


Headliners

by AttackOnFeels



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Basically everyone has some form of musical talent, Carla is an author, Character's Name Spelled as Hanji, Double Life, Eren Yeager Has Heterochromia Iridum, Eren is a Rockstar, Everybody Lives, Grisha is a caring dad, Hanji works as a radio host, High School, Levi is a composer, Levi works as a radio host, M/M, Manager!Ewin, Multi, Nobody is Dead, Rockstar AU, Slow Build, Titan-Haired Eren Yeager
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-08-24
Packaged: 2018-05-14 02:01:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 30,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5725573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AttackOnFeels/pseuds/AttackOnFeels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Rogue, German born Rockstar, has recently become big internationally so naturally the paparazzi are hellbent on finding out who exactly he is.</p>
<p>To hide his real identity, Eren Jaeger moves to America to live with some old family friends while his manager tries to settle everything down back home. He has to try to keep his famous identity and his real life separate from each other but that becomes a lot harder when he meets Levi Ackerman - a rude and crude radio host that isn't one to keep his feelings to himself.</p>
<p>[Ratings/Warnings may change as the fic progresses.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Any conversation that is italicized is meant to be in German. However because I cannot translate German nor want to confuse anyone, that will be the system I will use.
> 
> Also, this is a repost of the original. By mistake, I deleted the first one.

There was still red in the water being drained down the sink. He was sure that it would have been all gone by now, yet there was proof all over his hands that the previous thought was wrong. It just seemed to keep coming, stains against his cheeks and chin, some even in his teeth still. Who knew that the blood was so damn hard to clean?

With a sigh, he gave one last scrub to his face, clearing away as much of the left over stage makeup as he could. To some extent, he was sad to see the swirl of makeup and fake blood that made his stage persona; an attitude giving, leather wearing badass rockstar known around Germany (and some other parts of the world) as The Rogue. All the leather, all the makeup, gave him confidence to perform for thousands of people on a semi-regular basis. Without one aspect of the costume, he didn’t feel right about being in the outfits.

He picked up the closest towel, patting his face dry, before putting the leather jacket from that night’s performance back on. With little effort, he searched for the mask specially designed for him; black leather that covers his lower jaw with The Rogue’s mouth design to cover for the fact that he had washed it off previously. He slipped it over his head, brushing hair out of the way, putting it in place so it covers his jaw and part of his nose. It was time to try and get out of the concert hall.

Making sure he had every personal belonging in his bag, he strode out of the dressing room with his head held high, waving at all the staff rushing around to pack up and tidy the backstage and stage area. They all happily waved back, smiles on their faces, whether genuine or not he did not know but it made him feel better – after all, everyone working had been given a high paying job in the past few months they had been working for his homeland tour. It made his body feel lighter knowing he helped with someone’s living.

It didn’t take long for him to reach the back entrance, seeing his two bodyguards and long-time friends on either side. Reiner, a blonde bear-of-a-man, had his arms crossed at the wrists in front of his body, a stern look on his face that always seemed strange since he was a bright guy outside of working hours. Bertolt was, obviously, trying to stop himself from creating a pool of nervous sweat on the floor which was odd to see on a muscular giant.

_“Ready to go, Rogue?”_ Reiner spoke, a hint of amusement in his voice.

Knowing that it would be hard to speak around the mask, he nodded, putting a thumbs up before steeling himself. He never enjoyed this part of concerts, leaving with the paparazzi using blinding lights, asking dumbass questions in hopes of getting an answer. Thank god for the mask, it muffled his voice and helped to keep his identity hidden.

Bertolt opened the door, allowing for Reiner to step out first before indicating for The Rogue to follow, the door shutting behind Bertolt as they tried to manoeuvre down the stairs. The short metal flight of stairs was crowded with the paparazzi, some with obnoxiously large cameras with equally obnoxious flashes, others held microphones attached to voice recorders in hopes of hearing any words to slice together to form one offending sentence or other. The Rogue just looked ahead, eyes trained on the tinted windows of the car that would lead the paparazzi on a wild goose chase just so he could get home without his location being found out.

_“The Rogue, is that your true eye colour?”_ One asked, shoving their microphone close to his face.

Reiner growled in retaliation shouldering away the owner of the arm, allowing for more space between The Rogue and the persistent gossip sharks.

_“Are you going to explain the meaning behind your music?”_ As per usual, the voices of the paparazzi started to form a crescendo, sounding like a single roar from a crazed beast. Honestly, though, they were as vicious as a blood hungry monster.

Finally they were at the doors of the car, both bodyguards shouldering to the side of the rear door to allow The Rogue to open it, quickly falling into the seat. Reiner rounded to the other side, sliding to protect the right of his employer, Bertolt to take up position on the left. With no other words, the car pulled away from the swarm, setting a steady pace on the tarmacked road ahead. When they were a good half an hour away from the venue, he lifted the mask off his face, taking in a deep breath of fresh air, looking up to his friends with a grateful smile.

_“Thank you, for everything you two do.”_

Both young men gave a smile in return, the blonde going to clip the smaller on the shoulder.

_“What are friends for, Eren? Just because you’re a famous rockstar doesn’t change our attitudes towards you.”_

Bertolt nodded in agreement, his nervous sweating having toned down since leaving the stressful situation. _“Reiner is right. We knew you long before all this happened, and with all this happening it feels like we have to protect you now.”_

_“Not to mention Annie would have our hides for letting anything happen to our runt.”_

All three let out a loud, boisterous laugh at the thought of the threat Annie always gave them before heading onto a stage, even though she was always behind stage in case anything were to happen. After all, Eren couldn’t leave his closest friends out of such a spectacular thing. While Reiner and Bertolt had taken positions as his bodyguards, Annie had become an assistant stunts coordinator. She got to help with creating a lot of the physically draining stage fights as well as triple checking the rigging for the aerial work Eren did in his first song. But that was a little beside the point. Annie was always around to keep a watchful eye over their ‘runt’ even though he was second eldest of the group. (He will never admit that he liked being fussed over by his friends, it will be a secret he would carry to the grave.)

The rest of the car ride was filled with comfortable chatter, mostly talk of school in the upcoming days and things they wanted to do on the weekend now that Eren’s tour had ended. It was nice having his friends with him, but it was nicer just to hang out playing video games or going to the movies, hell he’d even go with Annie on a shopping trip.

The driver dropped Reiner and Bertolt at their respective homes, each one receiving a happy wave and words of thanks for their work, and in barely any time the car stopped in front of his family home. It had a classic German style, much of his Shiganshina did; white external walls with timber framing painted a bright red, triple story although they really didn’t need all that space, a spacious backyard that held many wonderful memories growing up. It was his mother’s family home, one they were proud belonged to his family, and hopefully he would one day inherit ownership of the house.

Eren thanked his driver for his service the past few weeks, wishing the man’s family the best of luck, before heading to the front door, fishing the spare key from under the doormat, unlocking it quietly. It was a surprise for his parents who thought he would be staying another night at the hotel room, they had no clue he was coming home to spend all day with them.

Well, it would have been a surprise if not for the deep barks of the five year old Great Dane that was dubbed as ‘his’. Following the barks, nails frantically scratching at the hardwood floors as the large harlequin male skidded down the hallway to jump at him. The large body crushed him against the floor, tongue licking frantically at his face while Eren tried to push the heavy dog from him.

_“Corporal!”_ he whispered as quietly as he could to try not be heard by his parents. _“Stop! Get off!”_

_“Corporal? Someone at the door?”_ The soft, warm voice called from the living room, soon followed by steps that would no doubt lead to him.

Eren finally pushed the Dane off of him, wiping at his face to remove the excess slobber, grabbing hold of the hyperactive harlequin’s collar to stop him from jumping all over the place. Or, well, all over Eren.

His mother soon made her appearance within the hallway, looking every bit as gorgeous as she did when younger. Carla Jaeger was a timeless and graceful beauty that never seemed to age. To match, her heart was probably made of pure gold. Everyone loved her; young, old and everywhere in between. She was many-a-persons ideal mother figure. Eren was overly lucky and ever grateful to call her his mother.

She froze in place when she saw her son holding the collar of the family dog, moving her hands to cover my mouth as her golden eyes welled up. Eren smiled in return, letting go of Corporal when he was sure the canine wouldn’t jump, opening his arms for his mother to run to give him a hug. Her arms wound around him, pulling her only child close, giving his face a succession of rapid kisses that left him chuckling.

_“Mum! I missed you, too.”_

She paused, pulling back a little to give him a playfully disappointed look. _“At least wait for me to say it first, Eren.”_ Her facial expression moved back into that delightful smile. _“I’m so glad that you’re back. I really have missed you, my boy.”_

Eren smiled softly, arms tightly hugging around her waist, resting his cheek on her shoulder. It had been around a month and a half since the last time he saw his parents. Sure, he was on tour and living his dream as a rock star but he missed his parents dreadfully. If it weren’t for them, he wouldn’t have been able to put up with all the stress and troubles all the fame put on him. They helped keep him grounded and remind him of what was truly important, a reminder of a life he could adapt back in to if he ever grew tired of the glitz and glamour.

Carla caressed the back of her sons head, smiling gently, as another set of steps joined them in the hallway, making Corporal bark once more.

_“Nice for you to come back, Eren.”_ His father commented, a mobile in hand as he crossed his arms over his chest. There was a smile on his face but it seemed a little straining, not relaxed as Eren was hoping.

Eren pulled back from his mother, one of his hands reaching to pet Corporal on the head, fingers gently scratching at the sweet little spot between the Dane’s ears. He knew that the stance Grisha was in was the one he reserved for business, so it would be better to just wait until he started to speak. This, thankfully, didn’t take too long.

_“Erwin just called. Said that the paparazzi are starting to get even more nosey about The Rogue, going as far to hack into the Recon’s database for any information they could possibly get their hands on. Luckily Recon’s team are amazing at finding problems quickly and quelled the intruder before they could find anything worthwhile.”_

Eren let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding, shoulders dropping slightly as he relaxed his rigid posture. There was a reason he had created The Rogue as his onstage personality, mostly so none of his friends or family would be harassed by the paparazzi as he would be.

_“At least they got it settled without any hassle. Did he say what they are going to do? I’m sure they wouldn’t let something like that go without some course of action.”_

Grisha nodded. _“Erwin said Recon are going to talk to the intruder about why they thought something like that was suitable then decide whether or not to press charges. If they don’t scare them with the simple threats, they’ll probably take them to court and settle it that way.”_

Eren sighed, rolling his eyes as he gave his mother a kiss on the cheek. _“I’ll be in the music room.”_

_“Don’t work yourself too hard, Eren. You just finished the tour for your first album, there’s no need to start working on a second right this instant.”_ Carla chided with tenderness in her voice.

She, like any mother would be, was proud that her son was such a tenacious worker and strived to give his best with whatever he did – whether that was the next song to work on or the work he had to do for school. The fact that he was also passionate about his career helped factor for the amount of time the seventeen year old spent until he reached a suitable level of ‘perfection’.  

_“I won’t. There’s just a verse stuck in my head that I want to write down before I forget it completely. If I don’t come down to get something to eat within an hour, feel free to go up there and pull me out. I love you, both of you.”_ He gave his mother another kiss, the same with his father, whistling for Corporal. _“Come along, boy. You can curl around my feet.”_

The harlequin was happy to follow after his owner, racing up the stairs towards the third story. The entire third floor had been remodelled into a soundproof music room, many popular instruments rested around the room with sheet music stands in front of them, a small sound booth was placed in the corner so he was free to record without the need to go Recon every time. Speakers were mounted on the walls, surrounding the space, ready to play whatever he hooked them up to.

Like usual, Eren went straight for the acoustic guitar that had started his love for music. The guitar had been a gift when he was six; his father had gotten it to help develop his cognitive thinking while his mother got accompanying lessons from the Leonhart’s, from the first lesson the bright eyed youngster had been hooked and had proudly stated that he would become a rockstar.

Corporal moved to curl around his feet, resting his big head on his equally big paws, body moving to basically curl around the seat Eren had sat in. The brunette smiled, placing the guitar in its usual hold before lithe fingers danced across the neck, strumming the few chords he had been mentally hearing for the past day.

This new song felt completely different from the other songs he had created, mostly because it didn’t feel as ‘rocky’ as the songs in the previous album. This one seemed softer, more controlled, sadder. It was moving away from the anger and desperation presented in The Fall, and that was exactly how Eren wanted it to go.

After a while, his fingers nailing down the pattern in barely a few minutes, words started to slowly form in his head, shaping to form the perfect sentences to fit in time with the music.

_♪ On that day it was an ardently crimson sunset_

_I hid the bricks from you_

_Sad memory of my childhood ♪_

The words from that small sequence fell into silence, no others even coming to mind, which frustrated Eren to no end. It had been like this since he decided to work on a second album; starts with creating the instrumental accompaniment, a quick snippet of the lyrics would flow exceptionally before… nothing. Absolutely nothing. With a sigh, he put down the acoustic in favour of a piece of unmarked paper, quickly writing down the lyrics with the appropriate tabs above so he could keep progress of what he was up to.

With that one down, Eren decides to try and go to a second, but the same formula happened: a few bars, practiced with ease, a short sentence of lyrics, a new sheet to write, try to switch to a new one. By the time an hour had passed, there was not a single song completed just incomplete parts of many. In his anger, Eren had placed the guitar down and paced around the room, Corporal watching him carefully. This had never happened before, there was never a song he couldn’t finish after he had started it however there were always days of firsts – this seemed to be such a day.

A sigh escaped his lips, pulling out his phone from his pocket, moving to fall against the black leather sofa pushed against one of the walls. Corporal followed, stepping up to curl at Eren’s feet while the young adult flicked through his  Twitter account, seeing nothing of interest within the first few minutes. A quick debate took place in his mind before he shrugged his shoulders, typing out a simple message into the text box.

»Feel like answering a few of my wonderful fans questions, so feel free to send me some.«

He hit the blue button, sending the message out onto the internet, moving around to rest his head against the Great Dane’s body, making sure they were both comfortable before looking at the ones he had been mentioned in.

»@TheRogue What is your favourite food?«

»@EmiKrackers My favourite food would probably have to be a nice, hearty potato and leek soup. Homemade by my mother. There's no better way.«

Eren scrolled a little more, the usual questions of his real identity appeared frequently and, as usual, he skipped over them in hopes of finding one he hadn’t answered or not willing to answer.

»@TheRogue If you could live in any fantasy world, what would it be?«

»@TheObnoxiousOyster Got to admit, that one is hard. Not fantasy but the world of Big Hero 6 would be awesome!«

From there he kept looking through, answering the ones that seemed harmless enough, the questions that didn’t intrude on his personal life, occasionally reaching behind to scratch at Corporal. He had to admit that he was having fun talking to some of his fans, and he had no doubt that some of this information would end up on Tumblr or on someone’s website that they dedicated to him. After answering close to thirty, he decided that this one would be the last.

»@TheRogue What inspired you to become a musician?«

It made him pause. Honestly, he hadn’t expected someone to ask him that question, he thought it would have come during an interview for a magazine or something not from some fan who randomly decided to message him. It deserved an honest answer but that would probably be ten pages long and certainty would not fit within the character limit. He resolved himself to try and answer it though.

»@bowlcutcutie Not a single aspect inspired me, but rather a chain of aspects. Mostly my parents and close friends.«

There. That would serve as an adequate answer until the next person asked him that. He pressed the button to lock his phone, looking up at the ceiling as Corporal moved his head to rest it against his chest. With a smile, Eren started to pet the harlequin under his head, hearing the thump of the tail against the leather. He stayed there for a little while longer before grunting, rising to his feet, heading back down to the kitchen. He was surprised his mother hadn’t come upstairs and dragged him down by his ear, the hour he had promised had been up for quite a while now.

When he was halfway down the first floor’s flight of stairs, he could hear familiar voices but not the words they were saying. The closer he got to the kitchen, the clearer and louder the words became, just enough for him to make out that they were talking about him. He paused just before entering, eyebrows furrowing. What could they be possibly talking about that would concern him but not include him in the discussion?

Eren decided to bite the bullet, holding his head high, walking straight to the fridge, noticing the conversation dying off as he opened the doors and pulled out a bottle of chilled water. He took his time twisting off the cap and getting himself a glass, turning to his parents and the third guest before taking a sip.

_“Don’t mind me, continue with your conversation.”_

The adults looked around at each other before the blonde gave a sound of defeat, pulling out the chair beside him. _“Come have a seat, Eren.”_

He did, pulling himself closer to the edge of the table, raising an eyebrow, waiting for someone to speak up. The blonde was the one who decided to break the silence.

_“I suppose that your parents explained the situation we had at Recon?”_ Eren nodded. _“Within this month alone the paparazzi have tried to get into our systems no less than six times. Luckily we have been able to control the situation before they can find out anything, thanks to our technical staff. However it has started to bring forth questions about what length they’ll go to in order to gain the information they wish. Your parents and I have been talking about what we can do to help keep your safety as well as the safety of your friends and family, thus we have been thinking about sending you overseas.”_

He stopped, allowing for his words to sink in. Eren blinked a few times, processing what his manager had just said.

_“You want to send me overseas? To a place I haven’t been before, most likely staying with people who do not know me or why I’m there to begin with?”_

_“Essentially. We’ve been in contact with some old friends of your parents who live in America; they are more than willing to allow you to stay with them until we can sort everything out here.”_

_“What about school? Not to mention the second album I’m starting to work on, I need all the equipment here. You just can’t decide to ship me off to a new country. We knew something like this could happen the moment you found me, Erwin.”_

Erwin sighed, pushing back some of his blonde hair that had fallen in front of his eyes. He had had the feeling that the young adult would have kicked up a bit of fuss, which was why he had talked to his parents first.

Carla reached out a hand, curling it around her sons clenched fist. _“Eren, your father and I think it’s a great idea. You’ve always said you wanted to explore, visit other countries, perform for people of all different languages. It’s not like we’re going to send you there and make you forget your life as The Rogue, we know how important all that is to you.”_

Eren looked at his mother’s sincere face for a long time, slowly meeting his father’s green gaze that was silently imploring him to take this opportunity. Finally, he met the steely gaze of Erwin Smith; it gave away nothing, not a single thought about whether or not his opinion would be swayed. Eren slumped in his chair, rubbing at his temples in defeat.

_“Alright. I’ll go. I want as much information as I can get though. I want to know who I’ll be living with, what exactly I’ll have to do, everything. Not a single thing can be left out, Erwin.”_

The blonde was more than happy to oblige those demands; in fact he was more than prepared for it. He bent down, pulling out a simple manila folder from the case he had on the floor, sliding it across to Eren. Upon opening, an article featuring a picture of a young smiling blonde stood holding a large encased trophy, what looks like his family standing behind him. There was a headline above the image, stating ‘Youngest World Chess Champion Only 17’, which impressed Eren even more as he read on.

> ‘In a miraculous feat, seventeen year old Florida born, Armin Arlert managed to defeat the WCC former champion Magnus Carlsen during the 2014 championship held in Sochi, Russia. Arlert was announced the winner after eleven of the twelve schedule matches against the Norweigan born former first rank.’

_“Is this kid part of the family taking me in?”_ Eren looked up from the image to see Erwin nod, however it was Carla that answered.

_“The mother’s family, the Holtzer’s, live down the end of the street and I was very good friends with the daughter. She moved to America to live with her husband’s family when she became pregnant with their son around the same time I was pregnant with you. You and Armin grew up together for a few years since they would spend Christmas here, but they stopped after you were four because they found that Armin showed signs of eidetic memory and thought it easier to stay in the United States while they helped him instead of constantly coming back and forth. I’ve been able to talk to them every now and again whenever they have a free moment._

_“When Erwin first brought up the subject, initially we thought about sending you to Oma and Opa in the countryside but he assured us that leaving you within Europe wouldn’t be a wise choice, at least until Recon can get some sort of legal backing. At this moment, it looks to be few months until you’ll be able to come back and the Arlert’s are more than happy to have you within their home until then.”_

Erwin nodded in confirmation. _“We’ve already enrolled you within Trost High so you’ll be able to start as soon as the next day after arriving. At most, you’ll have to stay for around six months.”_

Eren sighed, feeling the head of Corporal rest on his lap. Absentmindedly, he ran his fingers against the area between it’s perked ears, thinking through what the implications of doing this would be. The only downside he saw was being away from his family and friends, especially for that long. Not to mention not having all the instruments available to create the new songs, but he was stuck on them anyway so maybe a change in scenery would be helpful. He gave a sound of defeat.

_“I’m still not happy about moving there without you guys, but I trust your decision on this. All of you. Your just trying to do what you think is best for me. I’ll go live with the Arlert’s in America.”_

The adults each gave him a smile.

Every day of the weekend seemed to speed up, accelerating until he could barely keep time of how many flew by within the daytime. He tried to spend as much time as he could with Reiner, Bertolt and Annie, he even called up Sasha and Ymir to tell them that dance rehearsal later the following week would be cancelled until otherwise told. He didn’t tell any of them why but they didn’t try to pry for information, which he was grateful for. During the nights, he and his parents would stay up into the early hours of the morning either playing card and board games or watching their favourite TV shows and complaining about the stereotypical things they do.

By the time Monday morning rolled around, Eren had been awake for a few hours, doing last minute packing to make sure he had everything before he left. Luckily his mother decided to help, both rushing around like headless chickens while his father and Corporal stood by the doorway, smart enough to leave the two alone. Once that was all done, only two hours remained until Eren had to board the plane.

He hurried to have a shower, getting changed into his every day [wear](http://www.polyvore.com/headliners/set?id=154097043), making sure he put in his green contact before his glasses. The green of the contact wasn’t an exact match, slightly off and didn’t have the same depth, but it was close enough that no one had recognised it was hiding the gold. When he was a child people would often stare at him as he walked down the streets, leading him to become self-conscious when he wasn’t on stage – not to mention that covering up his heterochromia was another step to covering his identity as The Rogue.  

The ride to the international airport didn’t take a long, yet every minute closer caused a nervous coil to tighten in his stomach to the point that he swore he was going to be nauseous. He pushed it down, though, when he walked through the airports doors, his parents by his side. They were quiet, checking in so they could get the boarding pass and heading further down the many walkways until they reached the department point right before he headed into security check point. Eren turned towards his parents, being enveloped into a warm hug by both of them, hugging them back strongly.

_“Be good, my darling. Don’t cause the Arlert’s any trouble, be sure to help around the house and please try to make some friends while you’re there.”_

Eren chuckled, nuzzling his mother’s shoulder. _“I will, don’t worry. I’ll send you guys a message when I find the Arlert’s, just so you know that I’m safe.”_ He pulled them even closer to himself. _“I’ll miss you guys.”_

_“We’ll miss you, too, Eren. Keep your grades up, it’s not all about having fun. Also, son, don’t work yourself too hard while thinking of new songs.”_ The last part was whispered just before they all pulled away.

Eren gave his mother a kiss on the cheek, a nod to his father, before turning away from them and heading through the security check.


	2. Chapter 2

The flight into America was a rather comfortable one, regardless of the loud snoring from the man sitting directly behind him. Eren really couldn’t say anything about it, though, since he later heard the apology from the young man sitting beside him. From what he could tell, the cute looking brunette with the most adorable freckles on his cheeks was around his age – give or take a few years – and was the son of the snoring man. After the apology was given (the freckled cutie stuttering and blushing while trying to say sorry in broken German) they got into long conversations in English since that would be easier than the other pausing every few seconds to try and remember the word he wanted to say. Regardless of the language, they got along rather well. Eren found out that the freckled boy lives in Florida, however makes frequent trips with his immediate family to visit both sides of his family in Germany and Italy, that they were the same age and why the other couldn’t speak German very well.

“My mother taught me Italian from a young age,” he said, a soft smile making his freckles stand out even more, “whereas my father didn’t start teaching me German until a year ago.”

“How did you speak to your German family, then?”

“We usually spoke English, however the adults would fight in German whenever they didn’t want us children to know. I’m still rather bad at it, if my poor excuse of an apology is anything to go by.”

“The apology wasn’t that bad. A little mumbled but overall rather good, especially for someone who learned it a year ago as a third language, too!”

By the time the plane landed in Orlando International Airport, they had become rather well known with each other from silly things like favourite food to eat after becoming stressed to what they wanted to do in the future. It was rather relaxing and helped the ten hours pass by quicker than if he would be alone just watching movies. Both boys left the plane together, with the other boy’s family following, talking a mile a minute before the freckled boy got called down a different section of the terminal once getting off the connecting monorail-like transport. Eren gave a wave as he watched them leave, hoping he could possibly be able to meet him again.

From there, Eren slowly navigated through the airport to find the luggage carousel, grabbing his two suitcases before going further down in search for a pick up point. When he couldn’t find one he searched for an information centre who then led him towards the point he needed to go. He was rather glad that there were many helpful and nice people around.

By the time Eren got to that point, there didn’t seem to be a lot of people waiting around to pick up others so it only took a little while to find a card with Eren written on it. He thanked the man who helped him, wheeling his suitcases over to the family holding the sign of his name, an older couple standing over someone who was obviously their son from their looks.

The woman was young, probably around the same age as his own mother, with wavy blonde hair that was cut just above her shoulders. She had a shade of blue that could be described as nothing but calming, a button nose with a baby face that helped her keep a youthful appearance. She wore simple wash jeans with a form fitting shirt, a black cardigan that seemed to be of a thin material. One of her arms were interlocked with another blonde, this one a taller man who’s blue eyes were anything but calming – they seemed to sparkle with adventure and mischief. A rather strong jaw that had a little bit more than stubble, straight nose that wasn’t too big, dimples in his cheeks as he smiled blindingly. His attire was that of a pale blue button-up shirt and black jeans.

Then, there was the young boy. His hair was the same blonde as his parents styled into a bowl cut but seemed to be growing a little more than the typical style, a button nose obviously passed down from his mother and the beginning of a strong jawline (he was most likely a late bloomer). Then there were his eyes; as bright and enchanting as a South Pacific ocean, intelligent and deep as if he knew all the secrets to a long forgotten world. Simply put, he was cute and gorgeous. Not to mention that his dress style was just as adorable as the rest of him; dark jeans that just touched the neat dress shoes, a neat pairing of a white button-up shirt and cosy grey sweater vest, the glimpse of a red tie. Professionally adorable.

 _“Eren!”_ The woman called out in German once spotting him approaching. _“My goodness, it has been so long. You sure have grown since the last time I saw you.”_

Eren smiled, a hint of a blush on his cheeks. _“It is nice to see you as well, Mrs Arlert. Thank you for allowing me to live with you during this time.”_

 _“Please, call me Gisela. You make me down like my mother-in-law.”_ She giggled, a hand daintily held over her mouth before looking at the two men with her that had similar looks of confusion. “I am sorry, my dears. Eren, this is my husband Brayden,” she gestured to the man her arm was interlocked with, “and this is our son, Armin. I doubt you would remember him.”

Armin sent him a blinding smile similar to his fathers, reaching out a hand which Eren took it in a firm handshake. “It’s nice to see you again, Eren.”

“I’m sure I would be saying the same if I could remember that far back,” he hoped his smile didn’t show how nervous he was feeling.

The Arlert’s laughed with varying forms of amusement. After a brief catch up with the Arlert’s, they ushered him into their car, not even allowing him to put his suitcases in the trunk of the car before pushing him into the backseat besides Armin. Honestly, Eren had no clue what to make of the Arlert’s besides the obvious statement of ‘happy’, they just seemed to radiate the feeling from every part of their beings. He felt a little bad for inadvertently dragging them into the mess of his fame.

Barely ten minutes out of the parking area, Armin had turned towards him with a curious glimmer in his eyes. Eren had a feeling he would be barraged with numerous questions all for the sake of the cute little blonde.

“How are you feeling after the trip, Eren?”

“Fairly well. I don’t feel too tired, just the usual afternoon drowsiness however I do feel rather hungry. Thank you for asking.”

“You speak so formally, is that a common trait in Germany or is that just a personal quirk?”

“More of a personal quirk?” Eren answered, the sentence sounding more like a question that a statement. “My father is a rather formal man, so I tend to speak formal in most occasions. It does feel easier to speak formal when I’m speaking English, however.”

The questions in that hour car ride didn’t seem to stop, only when Eren asked his own of the blonde. As the conversations wore on, he noticed that Armin seemed to sparkle more and more with joy. Blue eyes sparkled, lips nearly always split in a smile, a dimple appearing on one of his cheeks that distracted Eren a little. He could faintly hear Armin’s parents chuckling amongst themselves, casting each other glances with hands intertwined over the middle console of the car. When it seemed the right time, Eren butted in with the question that was on his mind.

“Armin, why do you seem like you are about to explode from happiness?”

The young man blushed darkly, prettily painting his cheeks. “You noticed?”

“Hard not to when you’re radiating it, dear.” His mother said, looking over the middle. “Tell him, you’ve been dying to the whole time, I can feel it.”

This peeked Eren’s interest on what the situation could be. Maybe an early acceptance into a college? Asked to be the honorary judge on some academic competition? Won a trip around the world?

“My favourite music idol replied to a message I left them.”

Not what he was expecting but he could see how that could be a big deal to people. The excitement lost its appeal after he toured Europe and had met many famous identities.

“Which one? Taylor Swift?” He wouldn’t put it past the cutie to enjoy music from Taylor, because Eren had a secret music crush on the country-pop singer. He couldn’t help it, her songs were just so catchy and fun to dance to.

“The Rogue. He was on his twitter account after one of his concerts, asking for questions from his fans, and I sent him one and he answered!” Armin’s face seemed to glow as he explained his reason for happiness.

Of course. It just _had_ to be The Rogue, the persona he was trying to forget while in the United States. In some twisted part of himself, Eren wondered if the boy would explode if he found out exactly who he was talking to, that he was actually the boys’ idol in his everyday look and not his stage identity. He had a brief thought of whether or not he would believe him then if he would faint in the car, possibly falling face first into Eren’s arms or until the beat caught him. He then felt horrible for thinking someone so mean to a poor innocent cutie.

“That seems really great for you, Armin. It’s not every day your idol answers your question.”

“I’m just a bit sad that he didn’t give me a proper response. What could I have expected though? He’s probably very busy with booking tours and rehearsals, not to mention that my question wouldn’t have the shortest answer for the amount of characters that twitter allows.”

“I’m sure he would have replied in full if he could have. Maybe you could get a better answer one day.”

Armin nodded in agreement just as they pulled up into a long driveway. The house at the end of the driveway was double story and blindingly bright as the sun reflected from the white of the paint. There was a porch that wrapped around the front, a small flight of wooden stairs with flowers blooming on either side. Already Eren could tell that there was a difference in the architecture between here and his home. It wasn’t bad, not in the slightest, just different. All four of them got out of the car, him and Armin each wheeling a suitcase inside and starting the tour of where he would be living for the next few months, potentially.

There was a small staircase that led upstairs as soon as one looked in from the front door, two archways that led into the living room and a reading room (the reading room then led into the bathroom, he later found out), the living room then leading into a beautifully looking kitchen that had Eren’s fingers twitching in the need to bake something in it. A quick look out into the backyard; vibrant colours from all the greenery planted, a corner that seemed to be a hammock hanging above a wooden platform and comfy lounging chairs around it. Then Armin led him upstairs, stopping in front of one of the three doors.

“This one of my grandfather’s room. There shouldn’t be a reason for you wanting to go in there and he tends to want his privacy from the rest of the house.” He then went to one of the doors opposite each other. “This is my room and that one is yours while you stay with us. It’s usually a guest bedroom but I don’t think we’ll be having many guests while you are here. I’ll just leave you to unpack, then. Call out, or even knock, if you need anything.”

Eren nodded, taking both his suitcases into his new room, yawning softly. He didn’t bother unpacking just yet, instead taking a seat on the bed and pulling out his laptop, opening up the Skype application. Before leaving, he helped his parents set up an account so it would be easier to talk to them instead of having a large phone bill. He pulled out a USB stick that he had brought while on tour that allowed him to connect to the internet, logging in when it connected, seeing his mother was online. He pressed the call button, waiting a few rings before he saw his parents’ faces on the screen.

_“My baby! You made it safely. We were worried about you when he didn’t hear anything. I suppose you found the Arlert’s just fine.”_

_“No, mother. I got randomly abducted by some weirdo’s who allowed me to use my laptop.”_

She pouted, earning a chuckle from his father.

_“You shouldn’t tease your mother like that, you know how protective she is of you.”_

_“I know, but I’m not a child anymore, you two should know that. I’ve toured around Europe and have earned more money than most seventeen year olds would see. I’m a young adult, like it or not.”_

_“I don’t like it,”_ Carla grumbled, crossing her arms across her chest, turning her head.

Grisha and Eren couldn’t hold back laughter at her antics. It had barely been a day and already he was missing them so much, people he had thought he wouldn’t have to leave until his next tour was announced, yet barely two days and he was already somewhere else without them, this time for a longer period.

 _“Tell me, how was the flight? And how is Gisela?”_ His mother questioned after the laughter had quietened down.

_“The flight was interesting, talked to the person beside nearly the entire flight. Gisela seems fine, as do the rest of the Arlert’s. You wouldn’t believe it, though. Armin is a huge fan of The Rogue. What are the chances of that?”_

_“Slim.”_ Both his parents answered at the same time before their attention was directed someone else.

 _“Oh fine, giant cry baby,”_ his father said, moving out of the way to allow a black and white head to replace.

_“Oh, Corporal. I’m sorry, boy. I won’t be home for a while so make sure mother and father give you lots of cuddles and kisses. You can sleep on my bed, too.”_

_“He spoils you, doesn’t he?”_ Carla reached over with one hand to scratch between the Dane’s ears. _“We can’t blame him, because we spoil you too. And because you are his child, with the way you act like a little human baby.”_

 _“He needs a warm bed and you two won’t let him share yours with you, so he can have mine while I’m not there.”_ There was a loud whine as Corporal pushed his nose against the screen. _“I’m sorry, Corporal. I’ll try my best to get back to you, but I cannot promise you when that could be. I love you, my boy. And I love you, too, mum and dad. I have to go now.”_

 _“We love you, too, Eren.”_ They replied just before the call went down.

Just as Eren was about to log off, the black pop-up came onto his screen with a picture of blonde hair and the name ‘F.Titan’. There would only be one person with that name. He pressed the accept button, waiting for the voice to start talking.

 _“Eren.”_ The voice was angry, he could tell with only his name. _“Where are you?”_

_“Annie, before you go on about how I shouldn’t have not told you, I’m in America.”_

The call was completely silent for a while, Eren seriously would have thought the call had gone down if it wasn’t for the fact that he could see the screen.

_“What do you mean that you are in America?”_

_“Erwin convinced my parents and I that it would be in my best interest to move to America while he tries to get some legal support after the latest hack into Recon. So, early in the morning I was on a plane and now I’m in Florida.”_

_“And why didn’t you tell any one of your friends? We were worried to death when you didn’t show up for class.”_

_“I didn’t know how you all would take it. I know I should have said at least something, but I had no clue how to suddenly turn around and say ‘hey, I’m going to be in America for a few months, try and have fun without me’.”_

Annie sighed, probably rubbing at her forehead as she processed everything before saying, _“I’m bringing Bert and Reiner into this.”_

And that was what she did. She added them into the call, their names and icons soon joining theirs. Quickly as he could, Eren apologised to all three of them then went into a lengthier explanation of why he suddenly had to abandon them all after only two days resting at home. They seemed to accept it and said they would be more than happy to pass on the message to Ymir and Sasha. They continued to talk for a little while before they hung up, Eren getting called down to eat something.

The dinner set out was a simple stew, one his mother would make on cold nights and he was grateful that Gisela thought of making a German familiar meal when he first arrived. It was a silent affair, with the scraping of cutlery against the bowls, and he could feel the stew sitting comfortably in his stomach by the end. He gave his thanks before asking to be dismissed for the night, planning on heading straight to sleep to get up bright and early for his first day of school in the morning.

He barely had time to catch himself when a flash of pink caught his eyes when he got inside his room. The pink turned out to be part of a bow collar that a gorgeous grey/white cat had around it’s neck, a tag glimmered in the room’s light. The cat seemed to not care that the tanned boy was leaning over it, looking up as if unimpressed that he was even there to begin with. Armin came in a moment later, picking up the cat and explaining how she likes to sleep in the guest room some nights, since that bed was just a little bit bigger than Armin’s. The cat’s name was Marie, much to the embarrassed admission from Armin who stuttered over a confession of having a small obsession over Disney’s _Aristocats_.

Eren found it a funny memory to think back on after he changed into his pyjamas, snuggling into the soft comforters on the bed, eyes closing in barely any time even though he dearly missed the weight of Corporal against his feet.

In what felt like barely any time, Eren was awoken by the shaking of his shoulders. With heavy eyes, he could make out the blurry outline of Armin to the side of the bed, already dressed in a similar outfit to what he had on the last time he had saw him. A groan escaped his mouth, lazily moving onto his elbows, rubbing at an eye while yawning. Vaguely he was aware of himself hiding his golden eye since he took out his contact before he fell asleep.

“Armin? Why are you shaking me so strongly?”

“Because you need to get ready for school. Your first day at an American high school.”

“You seem strangely energetic for it to be morning. Are you sure that I’m not just dreaming and that when I get out of this bed I’ll suddenly find myself in a school-looking hallway while naked? Because if that is to actually happen I’d rather skip that and wake up on my own.”

Armin gave him a puzzled look. “Eren, you are strange. It really is morning and I really am waking you up.”

The words took a while to sink up but when they did they had Eren leaping out of bed to one of his suitcases that contained his normal [clothes](http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=155615412). Once dressed, having brushed his teeth and placed his hair in its usual ponytail he then remembered to put his green contact in, blinking a few times to help settle it in place before picking up his glasses.

Armin was sitting at the dining table, taking a sip from a glass, placing it down and looking at Eren. “Can you quickly eat breakfast while we head to the car?”

Eren nodded, finding a hand occupied with a slice of toast with butter, swallowing it all down in a few bites just as they reached the car.

“We’ll be dropped off a little away from school, only a block or two because mum has to get to work by the same time. We should be alright for time.”

“That doesn’t bother me.”


	3. Chapter 3

To say Eren was thankful for all the hours his trainers and stunt coordinators pushed him was a slight understatement. When Gisela dropped them off, he thought it would be a street or two away but no – it was a total of six blocks. To make matters just a little bit worse was the fact that Armin was, quite literally, skipping towards the looming grey/white coloured building.

As they got closer to said building, a feeling of dread started to coil within his stomach for reasons he did not know. Why would he be feeling such negative emotions? It’s just a school; maybe that was the reason why. He had never been to a proper school building, his parents having opting for him to be home-schooled which turned out to be especially helpful since his first appearance as The Rogue. He decided to just put it down to nerves.

“Excited?”

Eren looked over at Armin, smiling a little shyly. “I am not sure if ‘excited’ would be the right word, but I am feeling nervous.”

“That’s normal, since you are in a new country meeting people who probably don’t know anything but stereotypes. There’ll be nothing to worry about, though. Most people are rather friendly, only a few bullies every now and again but they’ll normally stop if-” Armin paused when they stepped foot in the entrance of the school, seeing a girl leaning against a car door. “Mikasa!” He shouted just before racing towards her.

Eren raced after him as the girl turned around, perfectly straight black hair fanning out and looking just like a models.  She was gorgeous, he had to admit, with sharp grey eyes and pale skin that seemed to sparkle under the morning sun.

She seemed to just be finishing off a conversation with the person driving the car, giving them a wave as they pulled out from the front to drive down the street and out of sight. She then turned all her attention to Armin, the softest of smiles tugging at the corners of her lips.

“Good morning, Armin.”

“Good morning!” He greeted cheerily before gesturing his hand to Eren. “Mikasa, this is Eren. He’s the friend from Germany I was telling you about. Eren, this is Mikasa. She’s been my friend since I’ve been young.”

Warily, she eyed him as if she saw Eren as a threat to Armin’s being. He decided to take the initiative in greeting her, holding out his hand for her to grasp it. It took a little while before she did, holding his in what could very well be considered a death grip. He tried his hardest not to react, schooling his features into a politely smiling mask.

“It is nice to meet you, Mikasa. I hope I can get to know you within my stay here.”

“As do I,” she said in a guarded voice, grey eyes slitting a fraction in a silent warning of ‘do not dear hurt my best friend’. She was scary, he had to admit. On par with Annie.

Before anyone could say anything else, a bell sounded, some sort of signal for the students who started to head into the building. He threw a confused look at Armin, who once again waved towards Mikasa as she excused herself to get to her class on the opposite end of the grounds. On the walk towards the doors, Armin explained that he had helped in building Eren’s schedule with his parents, telling the German born teen that they shared four out of seven classes and that in their first class (English) he could write down the others subjects with rooms and teachers included. All from memory.

They carried their backpacks into the room, Eren having been explained that they don’t have to use the lockers but they were there just in case. Armin opened the door to the room when they reached it, showing a rather drab looking room that, honestly, looked more like it belonged in a prison than school. Students were isolated on individual wood and metal desks that looked barely big enough to put down a notebook, uncomfortable looking chairs that matched. Then there were the students, all their heads turned towards him with varying looks ranging from curiosity to disinterest. If it weren’t for his time on stage, with over a thousand eyes peering at him, Eren would probably have felt more than a little nervous.

“You were running a little late, there, mister Arlert.”

“Sorry, mister Berner. I had to bring Eren and then got caught up explaining the things he didn’t understand.”

“Ah yes, the new student.” Kind brown eyes turned to him. “Go and take your seat, Arlert. The new student can come up to the front and introduce yourself.”

Armin did as he was instructed, shooting Eren an encouraging smile while he stood on his metaphorical spotlight at the front of class. An introduction seemed simple enough, nothing he hadn’t already known beforehand. He cleared his throat, adjusting his glasses to stall for a little more time. He could feel those butterflies again but tried his hardest to keep them from rising.

“Hello, my name is Eren Jaeger. I was born in Germany and I am seventeen years old. I like to play music and can play three different instruments. I look forward to getting to know you all,” he gave a shy smile, pushing his glasses back into place for a second time. They had a nasty habit of falling down the bridge of his nose.

Hands shot upwards with a collection of curious gazes, probably all waiting to ask the question floating around their minds. Eren looked towards the teacher, who only nodded in encouragement. He got the feeling that something like this wasn’t an everyday occurrence at Trost high school. He picked a kid from the front, head shaved into what Eren could only describe as ‘bald’.

“Can you speak German?”

Eren gave him a rather blank look. _“Can you speak English? I’m pretty sure a person born in Germany would know German. It makes sense, does it not?”_

There was a snort a few rows back, their tanned hands covering their mouth. Honestly, that kid looked familiar but he couldn’t put a finger on how exactly Eren remembered them. He went on to pick another new classmate, someone who sat a few seats behind the first.

”Why did you come to America?”

“To experience a different culture than my own, to see the world before being weighed down by more pressing matters.”

There were a few more he answered, mainly boring details about his life back in Germany. His favourite one was when someone asked if the actual drinking age was fourteen. Eren got a laugh out of that as he explained that rather complex regulations his home had in regards to alcoholic consumption. Before he could answer another, mister Berner asked for him to take a seat. He, gladly, took the spare seat near the boy who snorted at the beginning of his Q&A session. Once more, Eren thought that he knew the young males face from somewhere and it couldn’t have been from that long ago. It wasn’t until he spoke that Eren knew exactly how he knew the other.

_“It is nice to see you again, Eren. Did you enjoy your first night in America?”_

It was the boy from the seat beside him on the plane.

_“Yes. It was better than I thought. It is also nice to see you again. What are the odds of meeting again?”_

The freckled boy grinned, chuckling a little. _“Low odds. I do not think I introduced myself last time. I’m Marco Bodt.”_

_“Marco. It’s nice to finally have a name to first person I met in America.”_

Before Marco could reply, mister Berner looked over at them with a single eyebrow raised, an expression that said ‘what do you two think you’re doing?’ They quieted down, shooting each other a quick glance and a shared smile while the teacher continued on with the lesson he had planned to conduct for the day.

Eren was praying to any deity that would hear him by the time lunch rolled around. He sure as hell wasn’t use to having such long periods of time for a single class. Normally he would be taught in half hour rotations, going through a total of six classes before going back to beginning of the day. An hour in total for each class, but there were breaks and other classes in between. It was excruciating for the German teenager to sit still for a full hour for each class, listening to the teachers drone on and on while trying not to nod off into a slumber. How embarrassing that would be on the first day, not to mention a horrible impression it would leave for the remainder of his stay at Trost high.

Lunch, though, was not what he was expecting.

Firstly, everyone was crowded in an enclosed space where a putrid smell hung in the air. (He was later told that that smell was actually the food cooking, which led to shock quickly showing on his face, he then had excused himself when he felt like he was going to throw up, promising himself to never ever eat the food cooked there.) Then there was the heat and noise coming from all the crowded bodies in said room, making the air stuffy and reminding him of concerts with a sea of squirming, sweaty bodies.

Luckily there was little chance of getting lost amongst the throng of bodies for his fingers were curled around pieces of fabric from the clothing of both Armin’s and Marco’s shirts. It turned out that the two were friends, hanging around the same group of people and have been growing up together since Armin had entered pre-school. It was nice to know that Armin had such a sweet, kind friend like Marco, who Eren could only describe as a freckled saint. The freckled teen tried his best to help ease Eren into the material that was being taught by translating the words that baffled him into German, not mention taking him step-by-step through the process of some of the formulas that just didn’t want to click inside his head. A heaven sent, he was.

He hadn’t even realised when they had led him through the entire food line (since Marco had forgotten his lunch at home and insisted that bad food was better than none) and back outside into the fresh, open air. Eren took a gulp of air, lifting a hand to wipe away some of the sweat that had gathered on his forehead, other hand still holding onto Armin as they led him towards a large picnic bench with four people sitting around and talking.

The first person he noticed was Mikasa, the girl he met that morning before they had to hurry to classes. She had a Tupperware container open in front of her, picking at a colourful salad while speaking to the girl sitting to her left. There were two things that came to Eren’s mind seeing the other girl. One was ‘wow, she is super cute’ and the second; ‘holy shit, when did Armin get a twin?’ She was basically a female version of Armin, as if his alternate universe self had come to hang out with him, the only real difference being that her hair was longer.

On the other side of the girls were two guys; one basically bald, the other with a cocky grin and duel coloured hair that just had to be a bad dye job. Their conversation was loud and rather boisterous, hands moving in all directions as they tried to debate with the other over why their point was better. From what Eren could make of it, they seemed to be arguing over a grade from a shared teacher.

“I’m telling you, Miss Lister enjoyed my piece so much better than yours. She was tapping her foot to my beat, therefore I would have gotten the higher grade.”

“Connie, you’re all wrong. Miss Lister gave me a verbal praise as soon as I was done, obviously I’m the better one in this situation.”

The bald kid rolled his eyes, knocking the other guys shoulder with had hand while going back into why his ‘piece’ was better. Marco took a seat beside the young males, quickly going through the gruel that the school served to him. Eren scrunched up his nose, letting go of Armin’s shirt so the blonde could take a seat, Eren following and sitting beside him. It was then that the four he did not know took notice of him.

“Who’s the new guy?” The guy with the cocky grin said, slinging an arm over Marco’s shoulders.

“I explained a week ago how I was having a very old friend coming to stay with me for a few months. Jean, Connie, you guys met him this morning in English. Krista,” Armin turned to his female double, “this is Eren. And Eren, this is Krista.”

The blonde girl turned around to him, holding out a hand to allow him to shake. “Hello Eren. How have classes been so far?”

“Very well. Marco has been a great help, but I wish I did not have to sit down for so long. I feel restless.” As if to emphasises, he bounced his knee under the table.

Krista laughed, sounding like a beautiful chorus of bells. “Marco is always a help, whether or not he should actually do so.”

A pretty blush came across Marco’s cheeks, a fork between his lips, leading to the rest of the table to laugh at the rather adorable look.

“I’m Connie,” the bald headed kid said, pointing his thumb at himself before directing it at the young man he was fighting with beforehand. “And this horse-face is Jean.” Jean let out a ‘hey!’ at the insult before Connie continued on. “You said you played some instruments, which ones?”

“Guitar, drums and piano.”

Connie pouted. “I was hoping for something more exciting.”

Marco let out a snort, spearing something that looked vaguely like chicken. “Not everyone can be a beat boxing flutist, Con. Most people will play ‘boring’ instruments.”

“We need more people who can play an instrument and beat box at the same time.”

Eren tilted his head. He had never heard of someone mixing the two different types of music styles to create something that seemed unique, but for all he knew it could be a big thing in America. Honestly, he was curious as to how something like that could work when he felt his phone ringing. The only people in America who had his number were the Arlert’s and he highly doubted that they would be calling him, which only left the people he left behind in Germany. A quick look at the screen confirmed it; the caller was none other than his manager, Erwin.

“I will be right back, I have to take this call.”

He answered as he walked a little ways away, making sure he was out of ear shot before speaking. _“Hello?”_

_“Eren, I’m glad I caught you. I hope it was not during class.”_

_“No sir,”_ he confirmed, leaning against a tree. Behind him, he could hear a few people walking around but he was sure it was safe, he didn’t think a lot of people would be able to understand him with how rapid he tended to talk in his native tongue. _“It’s currently a break. Is everything alright in the case?”_

_“Yes, Eren, no need to worry. What I called for is about you, as The Rogue.”_

Eren shifted to straighten his back, looking around in case someone was close enough to hear, forgetting that most people couldn’t speak German. _“What about him, sir?”_

_“Your parents and I agreed that it would be in your best interest to continue doing promotional stunts to get your name further out into the world. Next week, Saturday around midday, you’ll be having an interview at the ‘Rose’ radio station with the people behind the personalities of ‘the Squad Leader and the Captain’. I’m trying my hardest to set up other interviews, and possibly some small shows, around your area.”_

_“That’s…_ ” Eren paused, pinching the bridge of his nose while he exhaled rather loudly. _“Great, sir. You couldn’t have possibly scheduled the interview for the week after? It may take a while before I feel completely settled in with my surroundings.”_

_“I understand that, Eren, but it would be better to set it up now before you get too comfortable with being away from all this. You need time to relax and settle in, I know that, which is why I have given you this week to do all of that before getting back into the swing of things.”_

In the back of his mind, Eren knew that he would end up thanking Erwin for all of this at a later date but in that current moment it didn’t seem like the right idea. He wouldn’t argue against his manager, or his parents, at the end of the day. They were really doing what they thought would be the best for him.

_“Alright. I do them. But I need, at least, a week break between each one. The school work here is more than I’ve ever had previously so I’ll need to spend quiet a fair amount of time on it before even thinking about the next gig.”_

_“Which is fair enough, school should come first. I agree to these terms.”_

Eren let out a relieved sigh before feeling his body tense once more. There was one detail he had been forgetting.

_“Erwin, what about the Arlert’s? What am I meant to do if I need to go somewhere but they need me to do something else? What if they want to know where I’m going?”_

Erwin was quiet for a moment before letting out a sigh of his own. Eren knew that if he could see the blonde that he would have one hand rubbing at his forehead, at the point just before his eyebrows met, eyes closed.

_“Honestly, Eren, I have no clue. But, from what it seems, it may be the best to tell them. I do not know if you could trust them, your mother would probably think you can, but it would certainly make your time there easier without needing to hide or lie to them. Ultimately, the choice is up to you but I would like for you to figure it out before the interview.”_

_“Yes, sir. Is there anything else you’d like me to know before I stop the call?”_

Erwin chuckled. _“Your mother will be waiting on a call tonight. She asked me earlier to pass along the message that you have to call her as soon as possible, something about a surprise for you when you do.”_

_“Thank you. Have a good night, Erwin.”_

_“You, too, Eren. Try not to stress out too much over this.”_

The phone beeped twice, telling Eren that the line was now dead. He pocketed his mobile, slowly making his way back to the spot next to Armin, sitting down silently. Marco and Armin looked over at him, confusion and worry written clearly in their gazes.

“Are you okay, Eren? You seem a little tense.” Armin questioned, reaching over to gently grip at Eren’s shoulder.

Eren collected himself, giving a smile and a nod. “I’m fine, Armin. Just a call from my father, already asking how school is going and whether or not I could actually keep up with what is being taught. He’s very stressful when it comes to school.”

They took that as an answer, allowing them to join the others in conversation. Typical things that only vaguely caught Eren’s attention until the topic turned to him. All six sets of eyes turned to face Eren’s, eager curiosity shining brightly.

“Eren, tells us a little more about your life back home.” Krista asked, eyes batting innocently, clasping her dainty hands in front of herself.

Eren licked his lips, thinking about what he could say that wouldn’t tip any of them off to him leading a double life.

“I have been playing music since I was six years old, learning from a friend’s family. My father is a doctor, specifically an epidemiologist however is thinking about studying to become qualified as a surgeon. My mother stays at home but wishes to become an author one day in the future. I own a dog, my beautiful black and white Great Dane, Corporal.” He grabbed his phone, unlocking it and quickly looking through the images until he found his favourite of Corporal, holding it up to show everyone at the table. After they all got a look at his pride and joy, he put the phone back into his pocket.

“How can you speak English so well? You would think someone born outside of an English speaking country would have a hard time with their vocabulary.” Krista then clamped her hands over her mouth with an adorable squeak. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean for it to sound insulting.”

Eren laughed it off, shaking his head. “It is fine, Krista. My father has been teaching me English for nearly as many years as I have been speaking German. There are still some phrases and grammar placements that I am still a little baffled over but that could be said for anyone learning another language.”

“Oh, that makes sense.”

“Wait, your dad’s a doctor? Not just that, but a doctor with its own cool sounding name?” Eren nodded. “What exactly does he do?”

“He does research and helps in creating vaccines against terminal diseases, like cancer or HIV.”

“And now he wants to study to become a surgeon?”

“Yes. He says that he could help even more lives that way.”

“Your father has some really noble intentions, Eren.” Mikasa said, finishing up the last of her lunch. She shot him a small smile, which he thought she didn’t do very often considering the reaction Armin had to it.

“Not only that, but he sounds rich as hell. I bet you live in a mansion back in Germany. Do ya?” Connie asked, him and Jean sharing sly looks.

“No, actually. We live in an old house, rather traditional architecture. It was my mother’s parents’ home and a house that has been in the family for a few generations now. The style is similar to the era of Gothic architecture. Rather spacious but no mansion or castle.”

The boys deflated, causing the others to laugh at their reactions. It was nice spending time like this, mucking around with new people he hoped he would be able to form bonds with in the future. Soon enough, the bell rang for the students to head inside to continue their lessons until the end of the day, which meant that Armin and him headed into their advance placement German language class. Armin could speak German, mostly because his mother spoke it around the house and demanded that her child be multilingual. Speaking German with people learning his native tongue was fun, but boring at the same time because he wasn’t learning anything and acted more like a teacher than another student. It also meant that a lot of people wanted him to partner up with them so he could basically do all the work. (He told more than half of them to not bother asking because he wasn’t the one who wanted to learn it, therefore he didn’t need to do anyone else’s work for them, then ended up pairing with Armin.)

After German came music. He found that all bar Marco and Armin shared the class. Jean plucked at a bass guitar; Connie moved a piece of cloth over his already gleaming flute, his voice soft as he performed a beat boxing sequence; Mikasa was tuning a violin; Krista moving her nimble fingers across the strings of a dark polished harp. In the front of the room sat a woman with a glorious mane of silvery-blonde hair who was tapping her fingers against her desk in a beat before she saw Eren. There was a quick introduction, a little music sharing, then basically told everyone to get into a small group and improvise something that could sound good. With the instruments in his group (because, of course he worked with his new friends) the sound was different, especially when he actually got to hear what a beat boxing flutist sounded like.

His last class of the day was choreography, shared with Krista. It was something he liked to do for fun and was fundamental to his identity of The Rogue: dancing was a way to express the emotions of the song without outright saying it. Not to mention is helped create the atmosphere for the audience. That class was mostly stretches and having fun with different dance styles. He found out more about Krista, such as her real name was Historia but she preferred her friends calling her Krista and that she has been dancing ballet since she was five years old.

When the day was finally over, Armin mentioned that his mother would be picking them up since he didn’t have debate club on Monday nights. Which led to Eren asking about why he’s in a club, slowly barrelling down the road of Armin explaining how the school offers students club activities from academic to sport to creative. Eren then asked about the creative clubs, excitedly shouting that he wanted to join choir when the blonde mentioned it. Choir didn’t run until Wednesday and had a second training night on Friday, with the possibility of competitions spread throughout the academic year.

Gisela arrived in the car not long after that, asking Eren how his first day at school went and what he ended up doing.

_“It was actually really nice. I met all of Armin’s school friends and found out about after school clubs, I’ve never been part of one of those before. I want to join choir because even though I have a class for music, singing and music are two different things. So a whole club dedicated to other people who enjoy singing is amazing.”_

His enthusiasm and excitement when speaking about his day made Gisela laugh, as well as his unconscious shift from English to German. Armin would add in his own two cents about the day as Eren spoke, constantly shifting between his two known languages at a dizzying speed.  The ride back to the Arlert house was filled with their chatter of an exciting first day and the possibility of having another exciting day in the coming week. The thoughts that clouded Eren’s mind during the lunch break were long forgotten by the time they arrived at the front door.

The two boys hurried up the stairs to drop off their bags, bringing out their books and meeting in the dining area. They both wanted to get a start on their homework, wanting to work together to get it done quicker so they could play a video game. The work was pretty standard but there was a lot, mostly things that repeated against and again in hopes that it would stick in their minds. Eren made a note to message his mother about sending his guitar so he could practice at the Arlert’s.

With homework out of the way, and dinner almost done, the boys crowded around the television in the lounge once Armin’s grandfather had moved into his room with the complaint of it being ‘too damn bright to read a single thing, Gisela you should really adjust those lights’. The game was fun, a race against the other to complete the round first, and it helped with them bonding to each other – as well as bring forth near forgotten emotions of comradeship from the past.

Dinner was simple yet something Eren had honestly never had before. His parents didn’t really go into oriental food styles, so he had been raised on European styles and types found in the Western world. So, something as simple as a stir-fry was a big deal for the German born teenager.

With his stomach full of delicious flavours he would have to expose his parents to, Eren headed up to his bedroom only to find that the room wasn’t vacant.

Sitting on the edge of the bed was Donald, Armin’s grandfather. His face was in a scowl, glaring at Eren as if he had personally offended him with his mere presence.

“Boy, I don’t know what you are hidin’ but I know it’s somethin’ big.”

Just like that, Eren could feel the floor opening up from underneath him. “What makes you say that, sir?”

“The way you act. Sometimes you get real shifty and clamp your mouth as if you were tryin’ to stop yourself from sayin’ somethin’. I don’t like people who hide thin’s from my family. I usually have a problem with them. Will I be havin’ a problem with you, boy?”

Eren shook his head. “Not at all, sir. I promise that, as soon as I can, I will tell you and the entire family this secret I am keeping. It is of no detriment to your family.”

“You better hope so.” Donald slowly headed out the room, closing the door behind him to leave Eren by himself.

Eren sank onto the bed, running his fingers through his air. He had told Armin, and the rest of the Arlert’s, that he was going straight to bed because of the exhausting day he had. He got out of his clothing, folding the glasses onto the bedside table, taking out his green contact and placing it in its container before folding the blankets over himself. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

In the worry over Armin’s grandfather confronting him over the secret he was keeping, Eren forgot to get in contact with his mother that night.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a [link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDWzW-7kJ2I) to the instrumental of Vogel im Kafig that I imagined Eren playing at the interview.

The following week, after his first full day in America, proceeded much like the first. He’d go to school with Armin, head to his first class, meet up with everyone at lunch and continue on with school until the end where he would join in with those in the choir. The choir instructor was more than happy to welcome a new member, handing out several sheets of music and explaining that those would be the songs he would be learning before the school year was over. From choir, Eren would then meet back up with Armin before they waited for Gisela to pick them up. Back at the Arlert’s would be the simple routine of homework, dinner, skyping the family before settling down for bed.

The only difference to this five day routine was the weekends. Saturday’s were for lazy mornings were the whole household slept in, however Armin would be the first up since he usually had debates around midday and the team met up in the mornings. The first Saturday for Eren was spent sleeping until noon before helping Gisela and Brayden with whatever needed to be done around the household.

Sunday morning, bright and early at six AM, was spent with everyone getting into their finest for church. Eren had learnt that the Arlert’s (the males, anyway) were Catholic and attended Sunday mass due to Donald’s pushiness about ‘praying for a good spot in heaven’. Honestly, Eren never saw what the big deal about religion was but he went along anyway.

And then he was back in the weekday routine, completely forgetting that the coming Saturday would be different than the last.

Friday night, Eren stayed up staring at his ceiling. He knew he shouldn’t have done it but with that many thoughts clouding his mind, it was hard to just fall asleep. When he was finally able to it was around one in the morning. But those extra hours spent figuring out the pro’s and con’s were somewhat worth it.

As usual on a Saturday morning, Armin had already gotten up and had left for the meet up point with his debate team. Eren had gotten [dressed](http://www.polyvore.com/headliners/set?id=157389272) before packing his backpack with what he would need to get changed into his rockstar persona. Once making sure that everything on his current self was as it should be (contacts, glasses, bright colours) he went down into the kitchen to find the rest of the Arlert family gathered around the dining table. For a while Eren stayed quiet, not really knowing what to say before hearing Donald’s voice.

“If ya have got somethin’ to say, go ahead, boy. We ain’t got all day.”

“Sorry, sir.” He took a deep breath, lifting his eyes to briefly glance at the faces of the Arlert adults. He didn’t know whose reaction he feared the most but he hoped, dearly did he hope, that they wouldn’t react horribly to it all. “I need your help with something rather important.”

No one moved for a little while, obviously waiting for Eren to continue. He couldn’t find the right words to say it, though. How can you suddenly tell someone so generous that they have been lied to? Not easily, that was for sure.

“What do you need help with, Eren? It’s not anything bad, right?” Gisela spoke softly, as if she was talking to a wild, frightened animal that would lash out at any moment.

“I promise it is nothing bad. I just need to be taken to the ‘Rose’ radio station.”

“And why do ya need to go there, boy?” Donald’s grumpy tone answered, his equally grumpy face not helping to settle Eren’s nervous feelings.

He took another deep inhale, slowly moving around to the point of the room where all three members could see him, reaching up to pull out the hair tie holding his hair up in a ponytail. He gave a quick shake to messy it up for his more ‘natural’ look before placing his glasses on the table. He dared not meet any of their gazes while reaching up to his contacted eye, carefully removing the green contact, allowing them to see the actual colour that lay beneath – the colour he had been keeping hidden up until the point. It was then that he dared look up.

There didn’t seem to be any looks of shock just yet, a bit of confusion but otherwise he didn’t think they recognised him as his persona. So, he cleared his dry throat, adding on a thicker brogue to make his voice seem deeper.

“There is an interview that I have been invited to, which the gracious hosts have asked for me to attend around one. Due to me not having lived here for very long, I do not know how to get to the radio station.”

“Eren, when you say you have an interview, you don’t really mean yourself. Do you?” Brayden said, sliding closer to his wife, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Yes.” He stopped for a second, looking down at his shoes. “The reason why my parents asked you to take me in for this amount of time was due to a few problems I have been having with a group of persistent paparazzi. They have been trying to break into Recon Records for information about myself in hopes of trying to earn a fair amount of money, and since Germany does not have any strong protection against such actions, they thought it better for me to leave for a little while. Leading into them asking for your assistance in housing me while they try to appeal for a court case against those who are breaking into their systems.”

It was a silent moment before Eren lifted his head to meet Brayden’s blue eyes, seeing curiosity more so than hurt which he was a little grateful for. Gisela, on the other hand, wore her hurt without any reservation. His chest started to hurt at that. Out of the three people in front of him, Gisela had been nothing but generous and accepting, going out of her way to make him feel as comfortable as she possibly could.

He could practically feel the effects of this small betrayal of trust pierce like sharp knives through his back.

Then, to make matters worse, Eren just had to look at Donald. The old man was red in the face, visibly shaking in the effort to hold back his anger, no doubt. He was surprised that Donald hadn’t leapt out of the chair to throttle him, though the stark white of his knuckles was probably the indicator that the elderly man was this close to physically injuring him.

“How dare you.” Donald started, punctuating each word with a poison tip. “Your family asks to keep ya here, for a few months, while they try to protect ya over there but seem to forget that they are puttin’ my family at risk if word about your arrival spreads. Did they think of that, boy? Of the consequences this could have on a innocent family if a single soul spreads your name like the plague? Hell would descend on my family. And you would have no one to blame except for yourself.”

The elderly man rose from his seat, and for a brief moment Eren really thought he would be hit. Braced himself and everything, but Donald only moved towards the stairs with a disgusted look on his face, as if he had tasted and smelt something absolutely foul. When he reached the banister of the stairs, he glared back at Eren.

“There are many places in Hell, boy, and I am more than sure that there is a spot down in those fiery pits for people who keep secrets. For only sinners have secrets.” With those words, the eldest member of the Arlert’s headed up the stairs, leaving not only Eren in a stunned silence but Gisela and Brayden as well.

No one knew what to say for a good while, and Eren was trying to process the sting that Donald’s words left him with. Even though he wasn’t a religious person, there was still the heavy weight of being told such a thing. He never knew how much one person’s belief could shape the emotions someone else could feel – nor did he ever want to experience such a thing again.

“Eren?”

He moved his head to face Gisela, hoping that his fright was not showing on his face. It must have been, though, because she softened her tone to that of an understanding mother.

“I understand why you would hide this from us; it was for your safety as well as your families, you always want to try and protect them in any way you can.” She paused for a moment, lifting her eyes to gaze at her husband, his hand squeezing her shoulder. “I assume Armin hasn’t been told, we probably wouldn’t have heard the end of it otherwise. Imagine the chatter he would be doing when he is told.”

“No!” Eren shouted, wincing, before lowering his volume. “Armin cannot find out yet. Just for a little while longer, I promise.” He added on the end when he saw their disbelieving faces.

Without waiting for them to say anything on his outburst, Eren started to get back into his tidy self. Hair back up in its messy ponytail, contact back in, glasses placed against the bridge of his nose. He looked ‘normal’ once more.

“Okay, Eren. We won’t say a word to him. I suppose you should get ready to head out. Are you going to take him, Gisela, or should I?”

“I will, dear.” She smiled. “Hurry Eren, it is a little bit of a drive so we’d need to leave sooner rather than later.”

Eren nodded, smiling softly as he headed up the stairs as quietly as possible to retrieve the backpack he left by the bedroom door. Luckily Gisela was already dressed to go out so all he really had to wait for was for her to grab the car keys. The atmosphere in the car was a little tense, neither one speaking as they got closer into the heart of the city of Trost. Eren was contemplating how he would get in and out of the station building without anyone noticing one person entering and another leaving when Gisela spoke.

_“Eren, I don’t want to push anything on you, but you should think about telling Armin sometime soon.”_

He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. _“I know I should but… I just don’t know if I could trust anyone else all that much. The reason I told the three of you is because of the situations presented in the future. My manager told me that there will be a fair few publicity stunts I would have to attend while over here, and I thought telling you would make things easier in case I have to quickly disappear to become The Rogue. As well as being unfair towards your family. You have all been nothing but kind and understanding, going out of your ways to make me feel accepted, and yet I was hiding something that could potentially /destroy the harmony of your lives. And I understand that not telling Armin is going against what I said, but he’s a fan of The Rogue. Most, if not all, fans would kill to have this kind of information.”_

Gisela nodded, turning the wheel to turn down the road. _“You’re right, a lot of fans would. But I don’t think you have to worry about Armin saying anything. He’s a really good kid, and I’m sure you’d agree that he’s a good friend.”_

Eren did agree. Only having spent a week with him (since he’s not counting the time as toddlers) was enough to tell him that Armin was a friend that could be trusted. It’s not like he didn’t want to tell Armin, he was just afraid of letting the blonde teen know. He liked the way things were right now, their steadily building friendship and comforting companionship. He didn’t want to see it change when he tells Armin, didn’t want to be treated different just because he happened to be the current big thing.

_“As I said, I don’t want to force you to do anything. Whether or not you tell Armin is up to you, and only you.”_

She stopped the car in front of a triple story building, shiny and sleek, tinted windows surrounding the entire outside, not allowing anyone peer inside. A giant red rose outlined in white was perched above the entrance, the beautiful cursive that he could only just make out to read ‘Rose FM’ slightly overlapping the image, alerting anyone looking at it. Eren thanked Gisela, grabbing his bag and waving her off. He scanned around the area, seeing a café besides the building that advertised a bathroom facility.

He marched inside, a charming smile showing to everyone who looked up at his intrusion, heading straight for the bathroom where he made sure no one looking before slipping inside. With no one in the stalls, he quickly took one, changing out of his clothes and into the [outfit](http://www.polyvore.com/rogue_outfit/set?id=157389895) he had picked for the interview. He took a quick peek outside the stalls door once dressed, making sure no one had silently entered, grabbing everything to make his way to the mirror above the sink, placing his makeup bag within sight. He washed his hands, removing the contact and putting it away, before washing his face, giving it a quick dry so he could get to work on applying his signature ‘face’. He probably could have worn the mask, if it wasn’t for the fact that he would have to talk since it was a radio interview. The makeup took a little while to put on but that was only to be expected since it took quite a bit to blend together to create the perfect effect of a deformed jaw.

He pulled out a plain black hoodie that he had stashed away for such needs, zipping it up to cover most of his vest-shirt thing, lifting the hood to hide his head, giving his face a last check before shouldering the backpack and leaving the bathroom. He quickly headed out of the café, going straight next door to ‘Rose’, pushing past the heavy glass doors and into the foyer.

A woman stood to the side of a reception area, talking to an older looking gentleman, hands holding a black book to her chest while she giggled at something her conversational partner said. They both stopped when Eren got closer, pulling the hood to expose his head once more.

“Hello,” he said, deepening his brogue. “I am here for an interview with the Squad Leader and the Captain?”

The woman blinked, her hazel eyes just a little wider than average. “Are you, perhaps, The Rogue?”

Eren nodded. His affirmation seemed to jumpstart the woman into a more professional mindset, her body straightening and resting the book against her forearm to look through its contents.

“Nice to meet you, sir. My name is Petra Ral, I’m the manager here at Rose. I oversee what is to happen in each segment as well as help you feel comfortable with our presenters and questions. Due to the circumstances surrounding your identity, we have made sure that all possible questions do not intrude or reveal anything about your personal life and all questions have been approved by your manager, Mister Smith. Now, if you would please follow me, I will lead you to the booth of our hosts.”

She said a quick goodbye to the man at the desk, leading Eren towards the elevators, the doors closing and taking them to the third floor. Petra was quiet from that point, leaving Eren to look around with an awkward silence hanging between them. It was a relief when the metal doors opened into a small hallway. On the right side of the hallway were clear glass walls and matching doors, showing the equipment that was placed inside, a wooden door opposite on the left hand side.

“This floor is dedicated to the Squad Leader and the Captain, as well as their team. They aren’t currently here but they shouldn’t be that far off.” She said with a proud smile before gesturing towards the wooden door. “If you would please come this way, we’ll talk over the itinerary for today’s show.”

Eren followed her into the room, pausing in the doorway when he got a look inside. He was expecting a break room because what workplace wouldn’t have one, however he didn’t expect anything such as what he was looking at. It was a sleek and modern kitchenette with white worktops and dark cherry wood accents to make the gleaming spotlessness stand out even more, it weirdly calmed Eren down seeing it. But then, a pop of colour caught his attention. A nearly rustic looking white dining table wasn’t that much to look at, however what caught his eyes were the mismatching chairs in bright pastel colours – no two chairs matching in colour. It added personality to an otherwise ‘cold’ room.

Petra had wondered over to the dining set, taking a seat and motioning for Eren to do the same. He took the one opposite her, placing his bag by his feet while she opened her black book, flipping the pages until she paused on the one she was looking for. She looked up at him, a warm and kind smile now displayed on her face.

“Thank you for agreeing to this. We’ve all been rather excited at being the first non-European radio company to interview you, and one of our hosts has been non-stop talking about this chance since they are a rather big fan of yours. We understand that there are some answers which you would not feel comfortable with, so you are completely free to not answer them.” Her eyes quickly flickered down to the page before meeting his once more. “When the segment starts, one of our hosts will introduce you then go into a few standard questions that have already been checked with Mister Smith. Afterwards there would be a game of ‘Would You Rather’ and, if given enough time, a few caller questions after heading off into a break. During the break you are free to get yourself a drink or something to eat from the break room. When called back from the break, we will be getting you to perform any song of your choice. With that done, you’ll be free to leave.” She closed the book. “Is there anything you would wish to change?”

He shook his head. “No, Miss Ral. Everything seems to be in a perfectly tuned order. I do have one question, however.” She nodded for him to continue. “All my instruments are still being shipped in from Germany, would it be okay to borrow an instrument?”

She giggled. “Of course. We don’t expect our guests to bring in their own instruments so we’ll always have a few of the popular ones on hand.”

Before Eren could get out any words of thanks, a rather deep yipping sound came from somewhere around the door. Then a black blur raced through the break room to where Eren was seated, jumping into his lap. He barely had enough time to catch the thing before it wriggled in his arms, leaning against his chest and licking at his cheek. He looked down at the thing, a black fluffy beast that couldn’t possibly be bigger than Armin’s cat Marie. Then there were the voices that filtered through the door.

“I’m sorry! He broke free of my grasp as soon as the doors opened. For such a small thing, he’s really strong.”

“Which is why I am normally the one who has him. He pulls at the lead to try and rip from your grasp, you should have known this by now.”

“But he wanted to go for a run! We have to sit down for the next few hours, need to work all that energy out!”

Two people, looking vastly different from the other, came into sight a moment later. What looked like a male and a female strode into the kitchen area during their tiff. The female, a stunningly taller brunette, stood there with a red flannel overshirt, dark grey undershirt with blue jean shorts and Doc Martins. Her eyes were wide behind her glasses, a small pout on her bottom lip, silently begging the other to give her pity. The male, a shorter black haired cutie, was dressed finely but not overly so in a perfectly fitting blue blazer, white collared button up and formfitting black slacks, a somewhat dainty looking black leash connected to ball of white fluff.

The male looked over, eyes slitted and face resting on unimpressed, to see the black dog wriggling happily in Eren’s lap.

“Stärke, heel.” The voice, somewhere between deliciously husky and pleasingly firm, spoke clearly. The black dog, obviously named Stärke by its reaction, jumped from Eren’s lap in seeming reluctance to trot over and sit beside the white one. The man bent over, picking up the lead attached to the black dog’s bowtie collar, giving another glare to the brunette.

Petra decided to clear her throat at that time, calling all attention onto her, a pleasant smile on her face. “Nice to see you two have returned.” She gestured towards Eren. “I would like to introduce your guest for today-”

She was cut off by a squeal followed by the shout of “The Rogue!” before his eyesight was taken up by the beautiful brunette from before.

“My goodness, it really is you! I’m such a huge fan of your work, your debut album is honestly one of the best I have heard in a long time, your voice and the way you manipulate instruments creates such marvellous sounds! The ability to create music that is loved by multiple languages is truly a talent of yours! What is your inspiration? What drives you to keep going? Do you actually write all your songs yourself, or do you have a composer helping you?”

They kept going on and on, words flying out of their mouth at such an alarming rate that it made Eren feel a little dizzy. His emotions must have shown because the other person made a ‘tsk’ before turning his attention on the brunette.

“Oi, motor mouth, stop talking for a second and let the poor kid breathe. You can ask all those questions in the interview, after he relaxes.” He rolled his eyes, taking a seat near the head of the table, both dogs taking a seat either side of him.

Eren have a small smile of thanks to the male who didn’t seem to see it due to having his gaze focused on the dogs. He found his own eyes wondering over to the obviously well-loved canines, feeling his chest constrict in longing for his own darling baby. What he wouldn’t give for Corporal to be able to come along with him, keeping him company and sharing in this new experience – a little piece of his heart always beside him.

“How long until then!?” The brunette whined, hands flopping down dramatically.

Petra giggled, looking down at her book. “Fairly soon. We have to wait for the tech staff to arrive, do a quick set up, then we’ll be ready to go back on air with our guest.”

They went into a lulled silence, mostly filled with the sounds of drinking and the nails of the dogs tapping against the wooden chairs.

“Oh!” The brunette jumped, eyes alight. “How silly of us! We didn’t introduce ourselves! Obviously we know who you are, Rogue, but you don’t know us. The name’s Hanji, but on air I’m referred to as the Squad Leader, and that lump of anti-socialness is Levi, the Captain.”

Eren gave her his killer smile that he usually used to charm his fans. “It is nice to make your acquaintance, Hanji and Levi. Thank you for allowing me to appear on your show.”

Hanji reached out, grabbing hold of one of his hands between both of hers, eyes sparkling like stars. “Believe me, the pleasure is all mine! How long will you be staying in America?”

He thought over the answer, not wanting to say something that could cause problems down the line. “A few months, at most. My team has been trying to organise a few shows and appearances while I am here, thus why I am grateful for ‘Rose’ in allowing me my first non-European interview.”

Hanji giggled. “Oh, isn’t he just the sweetest! You don’t have to be so formal all the time, Rogue, we’ll all be great friends by the end of today.”

Eren had doubts about the last statement, but nodded his head out of politeness. From there, he was almost ignored entirely – not that that was a bad thing. The other three went into talking about the schedule for the day while he pulled out his phone in case he had any messages that would need an urgent reply. Three unread messages were displayed on his phone, two from his mother (one an image of Corporal wearing a top hat, the other a message of good luck with the interview) and the third from Armin asking if Eren was free to hang out with the group from school. He felt a little bad when he replied saying that now wasn’t the best time, quickly typing an excuse of speaking to his family back home. Not a moment later was the reply, a gentle ‘maybe next time then’ with the appropriate emoji attached at the end.

“Ah, so this must be the famous Rogue we keep hearin’ ‘bout,” a new voice spoke from near the door, causing Eren to look over where a blonde stood.

“Sorry that we’re a little late. Erd wanted a coffee from one particular café a block away.” A second chimed in, rolling his eyes in annoyance. He then walked over, offered his hand to Eren with a smile. “Nice to meet you, Rogue, I’m Gunther.”

“An’ I’m Erd.”

Eren shook Gunther’s hand, another smile appearing though it felt a little strained. “Pleasure to meet you both.”

Petra got out of her seat, holding her book against her chest. “Now that everyone is here, I say we get started on the show. We don’t want to keep you here any longer than we have to, Rogue.”

“It is completely fine, Miss Ral. I am in your care for as long as needed.”

One by one, they all followed Petra from the break room and into their respective rooms. Erd and Gunther broke off to enter the control room, talking amongst themselves, while Eren followed Hanji, Levi and Petra into the larger room. The two hosts quietly took their seats, the dogs following after Levi with Stärke jumping up to claim one of the empty seats close by, the white one deciding to stay on the floor instead of claiming a seat. Petra directed him to his seat, telling him what he would need to know about their equipment.

“Have you decided on which song you want to perform? Just so we can get the needed instrument ready.”

Eren shook his head. “Not entirely sure on the song, but a keyboard would probably be the best choice.”

Petra nodded, saying that they would be live in ten minutes, exiting into the control room with Erd and Gunther.

“What about that really sorrowful one?” Hanji asked, tilting her head to the side. The headphones looked comically larger when she wore them, with a quick look at Levi it took all Eren had not to laugh loudly. “The one that translates into ‘Bird in a Cage’. That can be sung in English, right?”

“Vogel im Käfig?” Hanji nodded in confirmation. Eren thought it over; a good choice, sorrowful like the other pointed out but the reason behind the song was a depressing one, and it could be sung in English however the direct translation wouldn’t make that much sense. “Possibly, though I would need to spend a little time writing into something that would flow better.”

“It can’t be all that hard! What’s a few words different?”

“It would not be just a few words different, Hanji. A lot of the direct translation would seem rushed or not properly joined, there would have to be reconstruction of every sentence.”

This seemed to give the brunette pause, arms folding over their chest and eyes pointed to the ceiling. Eren was thinking about maybe choosing a different song, a choice between the two already in English or his most well-known song, when Hanji let out a loud ‘I got it!’ to alert them to her epiphany.

“How about you translate it before we start and through the breaks you and Levi could work on it. Our beloved Captain is, after all, a wonderful composer.”

“I’m not that great.” Was the mumbled reply.

Eren, though, nodded. What a great idea! He asked for a sheet of paper, quickly writing down the original version then starting through the direct translation when Petra informed them that they had two minutes until being put on air. It was a rushed job, one he wished he could take a little more time with, but he was glad to have gotten the entire song don when the starting signal sounded in his headphones.

Hanji started with a loud exclamation. “Yahoo! Good day everyone! This is your Squad Leader-”

“And your Captain, speaking,” Levi interrupted, voice sounding like smooth velvet under your fingers.

“Today we have a very special guest, a personal favourite of mine, who has come all the way from Germany to be with us. Please give a warm welcome to the one, the only, the mysterious and good looking - The Rogue!”

Eren felt his cheeks heat up at the last comment Hanji made. “It is a pleasure to be here, today.”

“For the listeners that may not know about you, would you like to give a proper introduction into who you are and what you do?”

“Certainly. My name is Rogue, as the lovely Squad Leader pointed out, and for the past year I have been a rockstar. This is the first time I have been outside of Europe but thought the timing to be right after having finished my first tour.”

“And we are very thankful that you’ve decided to allow us to be your first non-European interviewers. Captain, would you like to start the questions?”

“Of course.” Levi turned to face him, face as stoic as it would be if he were just about to talk of the weather. “You must get this question all the time, but it is one of the biggest questions surrounding your identity. Are your eyes really those colours?”

Eren chuckled, running a hand through his hair. “Yes. Despite all the rumours, I was born with these colours. My family finds it funny that I ‘claimed’ an eye from each of my parents.”

“And what gorgeous eyes they are! I bet your parents like to brag about them to everyone.” Hanji said, grinning from ear to ear.

“My parents, and the rest of my family, don’t really speak about me that often because we try to keep my rockstar life away from my civilian life.”

“Which seems to be fair. No one would really want to be followed around all the time, little to no privacy just because you happen to be in the media. But, moving on. You pointed out that recently you ended your tour through Europe, that finished in your home country of Germany. Would you mind telling us, what was it like for you?”

“Very taxing,” Eren said on a sigh, slumping in his seat. “There were a lot of late nights and early starts, too many rehearsals to count but I understood that it was to make sure that everything worked perfectly for that night. It got a little lonely since I was away from my family, but I am thrilled to have had the chance to complete such a milestone. It was, and probably always will be, one of the best times of my young life.”

“Your English is spoken, and sung, rather well for someone born with a different native tongue. Did it take you very long to learn?”

He shook his head, even though the audience wouldn’t be able to see him. “Not at all. My father, due to his profession, often spoke it around the house and started teaching me. My parents also had friends who spoke English as their native tongue, when they would come over they too would offer to teach me.” He gave another chuckle. “It feels almost as natural as German.”

“Which we can only assume would be the most natural for you. Going into a rather clichéd question, if you ask me, but what inspired you to pursue a career in music?”

Eren paused, licking his lips, debating whether or not he should mention the question he got from the Twitter follower a while ago. It wouldn’t hurt, and (if his assumption was correct) Armin would be ecstatic for a proper answer.

“Funnily enough, I got this question from a follow on Twitter not that long ago. I was upset that I could not answer it properly at the time. As I wrote to them, it was not a single aspect but rather a chain. Mostly, and honestly, it was my family and friends. They helped me discover my love for music as well as helped to craft who I am. In the end, if it were not for them I would not have had the courage to send my songs to someone who could help put them out into the open. “

“How sweet,” Hanji cooed, facial expression softening.

“Do you think your family and friends would be as helpful if you went into a different career?”

“I would hope so. My family have always been supportive of me, no matter what I choose to do when growing up. And I could not ask for better friends.”

“They sound very lovely. Final question, one we always ask to our guests. Do you believe in reincarnation?”

Eren paused once more, stunned. Never had he gotten a question like that, but he had to admit that sending a curve like that was brilliant, who would expect it? It certainly wouldn’t have a clichéd answer like most questions would, a truly honest ‘put on the spot’ answer.

“I cannot say whether I do or not. For all I know, there could be legitimate reasons behind why people believe in being reborn when their previous life has ended. We can never fully know if it is true or not.”

“What a scientific way of approaching the topic!” Hanji blurted out, eyes and smile brighter than the sun. “Have you ever considered a career in a field of science, Rogue?”

“I cannot say I have. Although science has perks, and is a very interesting subject, I find that I have to be moving near-constantly.”

Levi sighed followed by a brief shake of his head. “That concludes the formal aspect of this interview. Squad Leader, do you want to continue with this?”

“Don’t mind if I do!” She chortled, fingers playing with a sheet of paper. “As our regular listeners would know, we enter a round of ‘would you rather’ questions that were suggested on our website. Rogue, your job to answer as many questions as you can in one minute! No more, no less. Each question you answer will give you one point that will tally in our guest’s leader board. So far, the winner with fifteen points is actress Zoey Deutch. Good luck, your time starts now. Would you rather be a master of every musical instrument or be fluent in every language?”

“Every musical instrument.”

“Would you rather be ten minutes late or be twenty minutes early for everything?”

“Twenty minutes early.”

“Would you rather be in your pyjamas all day or in a suit all day?”

“Pyjamas.”

“Would you rather be ignorant and happy or be knowledgeable and never fully content?”

“Ignorant but happy.”

“Would you rather have to sit all day or stand all day?”

“Stand all day.”

“Would you rather go through life unable to answer any questions or unable to ask any questions?”

“Not ask questions.”

“Would you rather a Disney movie marathon or a DreamWorks movie marathon?”

“DreamWorks.”

“Would you rather have 1 wish granted today or 3 wishes granted 5 years from now?”

“Five years.”

“Would you rather be poor and work at a job you love or be rich and work at a job you hate?”

“Poor but love my job.”

“Would you rather be homeless or live without family and friends?”

“Homeless.”

“Would you rather have telepathy or telekinesis?”

“Telekinesis.”

“Would you rather not be able to stop dancing or not stop singing?”

“Not stop singing.”

“Would you rather die in twenty years with no regrets or die in fifty years with many regrets?”

“Twenty with no regrets.”

“Time’s up,” Levi called, stopping the timer on his phone that Eren hadn’t noticed the other get out. He supposed someone had to time the minute, though.

“According to our tally, you got…” She counted down the list, mouth forming soundless words. “Thirteen! Sharing the third place position along with artist Jamie Lawson and actress Emma Stone.”

“That concludes this portion of our time with the Rogue. After this break we’ll be allowing our dear listeners a chance to ask him their own questions.”

“So do not be afraid to pick up your phone, call our number and have that answer you wanted to hear.”

The two hosts removed their headphones, Hanji saying they were heading to grab a drink since they had finished theirs. Levi, meanwhile, motioned for Eren to move closer. He did, sliding the paper across the workspace and placing it on front of Levi, taking a seat next to him. The fluffy white dog surprised Eren by jumping into his lap, making itself comfortable with a little huff. Levi seemed surprised as well, raising one eyebrow while looking at his pet, but didn’t find the need to comment. He turned his gaze down to the sheet, silently reading through it, cringing every now and again.

“You were right, the translation is horrible but can be salvaged. Some of it may not make all that much sense, such as this line here,” he underlined a section with his forefinger, “when pitted against other songs in English but it would do.”

For the next (give or take) ten minutes, they bounced ideas off of each other for the first half of the song; rearranging, swapping, reconstructing each sentence until they were comfortable with it. During this moment was when Eren noticed Levi become more expressive. Grey eyes, that seemed almost lifeless, started to feel as if the other were excited over doing something as simple as recreating a song. It almost left the rockstar speechless how different this man looked from earlier.

Hanji returned a moment later, informing them that she had already told Petra about what was going to happen in regards to the performance piece Eren would be doing. Eren thanked her just before they were told through the loud speakers that the last song was playing and they would be back on air.

Eren retook his seat, a little sad over the fact that he had to place Hope back on the ground, placing the headphones back on.

“Welcome back everyone,” Hanji said in her usual excitement, “we’re going to answer the calls right now! We’ve already got three who have been patiently on hold since we went on break, so let’s hear from them!” She pressed a button on the panel in front of her. “Hello, caller one? You are on air with the Squad Leader, Captain and our guest, the Rogue. What’s your question?”

In Eren’s headphones he could hear a short but sharp squeal. “Oh, hi! My question is if you’re planning of doing any tours around the country?”

“Honestly, I would really love to. I really hope I get the chance to tour through America one day.”

“Caller two, how are you?”

“I’m so great! Is there a chance we’re gonna be getting a second album from you anytime in the future?”

He chuckled, grinning a little cheekily even though the caller wouldn’t be able to see him. Hanji seemed to, though. “I wish I could say something on that. I can try my hardest.”

“If only you could see his face, caller! His smile says it all! I bet there are some works going on.” Hanji giggled, pressing the next button. “Third caller?”

There was another squeal, a little longer than the one from the first caller. “Yes, yes, hello! Oh my gosh, it’s nice to be able to talk to you, Rogue. Have you thought about doing other forms of entertainment like going on a TV series or a movie?”

“It is ever so nice to meet you, as well, caller. I always enjoy being able to talk to my fans. I have not. I have never really been that good at acting and appearing on a screen has never had the appeal to me.”

A few more calls came in, an array of female fans who all wanted their questions answered. Eren was happy to give them the answers they sought for, finding himself having more fun than he thought he would. All too soon, the final caller came in.

“And our lucky final caller! What have you got to say for our guest?”

More than one voice make a sound through the call but no words could be made from it until a rather familiar voice spoke. “Hello, Rogue. First of all, my friend wanted to thank you for answering the question he gave you on Twitter, the one the about your inspiration for becoming a musician. His face lit up when you said that. Secondly, would you be able to give us some uplifting words? Schools getting a little hard and we thought hearing our favourite rockstar cheering us up would help us get through it.”

Eren blinked, stunned, before his face melted into a soft smile. “If your friend is still listening, it was no problem. I had meant what I said, I wanted the chance to give them the proper answer. And, as for your question, it would be my honour…” he trailed off, eyes pointing to the ceiling in thought. “Trials and tribulations will await you no matter where you go, they may seem harder than you could possibly get through, seem as if they weigh you down, but so long as you remember that you have unconditional support and love from those around you then you will always be able to rebuild yourself into a stronger, happier person. Never be afraid to seek out help or be the one who answers someone else’s need for help.”

“With those touching words in mind, we leave for another break. We will be back before you know it, lovelies.”

Once more, they took off their headphones. Hanji’s eyes seemed to have watered up a little, sniffling as she rubbed one of her eyes.

“That was very sweet, Rogue.”

“She asked for something to help her and her friends, it was the least I could do.”

“You know what you could do, though?” Levi spoke, the first time since the break. He seemed to have been working through the entire round of caller questions. “Read over this and see if you would be able to sing it.”

He passed the paper over to Eren, who read over it quickly, grinning widely when he finished.

“Wow, this is really amazing, Levi! I cannot wait to sing it.”

“Would you like to quickly practice it, then?” Petra said as she appeared in the doorway, holding the glass door open for Gunther as he walked in, carrying a keyboard.

“A quick practice would not hurt.”

When the keyboard was in position, Eren took his spot, allowing his fingers to effortlessly glide over the keys to create the familiar music of the haunting song. Hanji had moved over to hold up the English lyrics, making it easier for Eren to sing the translation. The lyrics that Levi had brought to life fit the theme of the song perfectly, so much so that Eren was highly contemplating asking the shorter man if he could record the song using his rendition. With the song coming to a close, Eren looked around at everyone present with a huge grin plastered on his face, hearing them all clapping until Petra caught sight of her watch, letting out a gasp and telling them they had a minute until they were back on air.

When the two hosts retook their seats for the third time, Eren stood standing by the keyboard while Levi introduced him for the performance.

“Welcome back, everyone. Hope you all enjoyed that last song, specially picked to get you all ready for what we have next. For the first time, Rogue will be performing his song _Vogel im Käfig_ completely in English.”

“So, let’s get this started! Whenever you are ready, Rogue!”

Eren took that as his cue.

“Once more, it was a pleasure to have you appear on the station, Rogue.” Petra said, shaking Eren’s hand when he got to the elevator doors. “We hope to have you back one day in the future.”

“I will be sure to tell Mister Smith to book another time for me to come back.” Eren replied with a smile.

The doors to elevator opened, leaving Eren all alone when they closed with him inside. He let out a long sigh, leaning against one of the walls as it took him back down to the first floor. The interview was done, and he did not want to think about how many more would appear later.

It wasn’t until Eren was about to leave the station entirely (having sneakily changed back into his civilian clothing) that he realized he never asked Levi about using the lyrics he created. He hoped he would be able to see him again to ask.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry this chapter is shorter than the others (and is probably the shortest so far) but this one was really just filler because the plot starts to thicken in the next few coming. 
> 
> Also, I'll be posting monthly now! At the end of each month (Australian Eastern Standard) there will be a new chapter for you all to read. Especially since I got my groove back while on holiday's, completing three upcoming chapters in that time which gives me more time to plan and write new ones!

Thankfully, Gisela offered to pick Eren up a little ways down the road since she was just finishing up the grocery shopping for that week. He thanked her - which she dismissed. So he helped in placing the reusable shopping bags full of fresh produce neatly into the boot of the car and putting the shopping trolley away. During the ride home, she asked about how the interview had gone to which he could not say enough praise! Then he expressed his regrets of not being able to continue working with the Captain. She sent her wishes for Eren to meet the host again in hopes of doing more collaborations together.

When they arrived to the house, Armin was sitting on a lounging chair on the wrap around porch, a thick book between his hands and eyes scanning across the pages. He looked up when the car doors slammed shut, a smile upon his face, placing a bookmark between the pages before closing it to skip down the stairs. The blonde started to talk about how the opponents during his debate were talking with more emotion than evidence and that Mikasa had, yet again, beat everyone at bowling afterwards.  Both boys helped Gisela unpack the groceries as they continued to talk, Armin mentioning the interview from his idol that sent a pang of guilt through Eren and Gisela sending a pointed look at the boy.

When all that was done, they decided to enjoy the warm weather. Eren lent against a large, shady tree trunk within the backyard, a book of empty staves in his hand while Armin read the book from earlier, head resting in Eren’s lap. A comfortable silence enveloped them, occasionally broken by Eren humming the placement he was writing down. Sometimes, the brunette would look down at his friend, smile before shyly looking away, hoping he would not be caught – luckily for him, Armin was too invested into the book. Time passed quickly and soon enough, Gisela was calling them in to help set up the table for dinner.

Eren excused himself early after having finished the meal, going through his routine for bed, only to spend hours staring at the ceiling even when the house went quiet. For a while, he debated turning on his laptop and seeing if his parents were online but quickly dismissed the idea in case they weren’t; he did not need to spend all night on the internet. He rolled onto his side, almost jumping out of his skin when a pair of wide crystalline blue eyes stared at him from the edge of the bed. Eren calmed when the accompanying white body jumped up onto the bed, nuzzling her head against his face. He lifted a hand, scratching behind a pointed ear.

“Were you in my room the entire time, Marie?” He asked while she purred, content to be receiving affection. “So long as you are here, maybe you can lend me an ear. I do not know what to do about my secret, whether or not to tell Armin. Deep down, I think I can trust him and it would only be fair since I have told his family. It would also make telling him where I am going a lot easier, since I would not have to lie. But, what if I tell him and he accidently tells his other friends? Or gets too excited over having his idol living in the same house as him? Logically, I do not have reason to fret so much. There will always be that worry, though. I had the same internal conflict when I debated telling Reiner and Bertolt, and I had known them for many years beforehand.

“And, even though I had years of friendship with them compared to the length of time I have been with Armin, being around Armin feels natural. As if we have really been close since our births, or that the period of absence had never happened. It, surely, feels strange.” He sighed, giving her another scratch behind her ear, her head pushing into his hand. “Of course, there are many possibilities on how Armin could react if I tell him.”

Eren continued with an explanation of each outcome, sometime during his conversation he rolled over onto his back to allow for the feline to curl on his chest, hand idly brushing down her curled body. Before he knew it, there was sunlight streaming through the cracks between the window’s curtains. His throat felt parched from talking so much, his eyes threating to close from lack of sleep and a throbbing forming between his brows to indicate a potentially oncoming headache.

Lazily, he reached over for his phone, bracing himself for the bright light when he checked the time. Nearing five in the morning; this would mean that Donald would be up soon to order everyone to dress for church. Not wanting to be subjected to another tongue lashing from the elderly man, Eren gently moved the fluffy white cat from his chest to start getting ready for a quick shower. Once properly freshened, he riffled through his clothing in search of something that didn’t look ‘too girly’ (as Donald commented the week previously) but still kept within his usual fashion sense.

With his [outfit](http://www.polyvore.com/headliners/set?id=176508746) selected for church, Eren had time to pretty himself up a little. It didn’t take long for his nimble fingers to create twin braids at either side of his head, making them meet at the centre in a small ponytail. A little foundation was applied to his face, just enough to make him look flawless, putting in his contact after washing his hands.

The sound of a creaky floorboard alerted him to someone walking down the hallway, a knock on a close-by door echoing a moment later. Eren hurried to put his clothing on, straightening the flower crown so it was perfectly sitting on his head. Just as he had finished resting it exactly where he wanted it, the door opened to reveal a sleepy looking Armin, who was in the process of rubbing his eyes with his free hand.

“Good morning, Eren. Mum said that, if you’re ready, would you lend a hand with breakfast?”

“More than happy to.”

 

While the congregation all sang, standing in neat rows similar to soldiers, Eren allowed his eyes to wonder. Armin, who was right beside him, had his hands clutched together and eyes closed – focusing on the prayer’s being sung and probably adding his own silent ones. Gisela and Brayden were touching shoulders, obviously trying to hide their giggles, as if they were school children acting inappropriately. Donald was singing strongly with the choir, book of hymns firmly gripped between his wrinkled fingers, eyes never leaving the pages.

From the other side of the pews stood Marco and what could only be his family. The teen turned his head, catching each other’s eyes, a small wave of Marco’s fingers to indicate a greeting. Eren returned it hastily, not wanting to get into trouble with anyone, before turning his attention back to the front when the priest gave thanks to the choir, to the congregation, to then lead the mass once more through various teachings of God. The words Father Nick spoke did not even register to Eren’s mind, sounding more like white noise than actual preaching’s.

In what felt like both too little and too much time, mass was over. They all got to their feet for the final parting hymn, watching as the Father walked down the aisle with the altar boys flanking him, stopping only when they were no longer seen. Armin got his attention by a tug to the sleeve, quickly explaining that he needed to find Father Nick for a few quick questions, leaving Eren to wonder out with the rest of the Arlert’s.

“Eren, good morning.” A sudden voice said from beside him.

Turning his head, he saw Marco with his usual angelic smile. Eren returned the greeting, alerting Gisela that he would be going off for a little while before following his friend off to the side. They lent against a wall, silent but comfortable, just relaxing before Eren cleared his throat.

“Marco?” He received a hum in return. “Do you think keeping a secret could be a good thing?”

Obviously not expecting that question, Marco was stunned. Slowly, though, he relaxed and placed his arms across his chest as they thought. His expression gave away nothing on what he was thinking, instead nodding to himself when it seemed he reached a conclusion. He turned his body to fully face Eren, smiling softly in the way only Marco could.

“I think it depends on the situation and the circumstances. For instance, lying about an affair would not be a good one, but if you were giving a little white lie to stop someone’s feelings from being hurt than, I suppose, it wouldn’t be too bad.”

“But, what if that lie is to protect yourself from potential pain?”

Marco gave it a bit more thought before saying, “You would just have to ask yourself ‘is the pain worth not having to keep this secret from them any longer?’ Would you be willing to go through it, if it meant that you wouldn’t be keeping a secret?”

This time Eren was the one thinking. He’s ran through all the pros and cons of telling Armin about him being The Rogue but never thought of how he would feel if something wrong were to happen. He would be hurt, for sure, and it could be the end of his family’s anonymity – not to mention ruin his chances of having a semi-normal life away from being a rockstar. But, what if he was worrying for no reason? Out of all the people he had met in America, Armin was by far the most trustworthy.

Before either one of them could say something else, Armin came skipping into their direction, a grin plastered on his face. Marco excused himself, heading back to his family, as Armin and Eren wondered back over to the Arlert’s where they all piled into the car to head to the closest park for a picnic brunch.

The area was beautiful; gorgeously green grass rolling over the entire area, wildflowers blooming in large but scattered patches, shady trees perfect to hide under in warm weather and a field of long grass. After finding the perfect spot to settle down (a table close enough for Donald and under just enough shady cover), the boys ran off to the long grass. Unlike their ages, they decided to roll around, coating their clothing in dirt, dust and prickles all the while laughing loudly. It felt too nice to let loose, acting like children while on the cusp of adulthood.

In one particular moment, their limbs tangled together while running next to one another, tumbling into the dirt. Eren was left on his behind, lifting himself onto his hands, gazing at Armin as he was trying to untangle their legs as he sat over the top of them. Eren let out a laugh, loud and joyous, tipping his head back with glee.

 

Armin looked at his old friend as the flower crown he wore to church slipped onto the floor. As it did, the braids slipped free from the ponytail, twisting loose to hang freely. Silently, he watched as Eren’s laughter quietened down, gazing gleefully but softly. Slowly he lent in closer, even as his mind was screaming that there was something incredibly familiar about the way the brunette looked.

Eren’s head tilted to the side as he watched Armin, and the blonde desperately wished he knew what he was doing.

He took a breath, going that bit closer, eyes raking over the facial features that seemed so, so familiar. At this angle there seemed to be something different about Eren’s green eyes – something that seemed slightly off, as if one colour was brighter than the other; as if there was a different pigment to the iris that made it close but not quite there.

Eren lifted a hand, running it through his shaggy hair – oblivious that his hair was down – and put on a play smirk. “Are you checking me out, Armin?” He teased, the accent seeming to go playfully thicker.

Now his mind really was screaming at him but it may as well have been in a foreign language, there was no words that he could make sense of. The scene before him looked incredibly recognizable, as though he had gazed upon it many a time – this playfully flirtatious side of Eren.

“No, but you’d wish.”

They both laughed once more before his mother called them back, saying that they should be heading back home. So, they all piled back into the car, comfortable silence filling the small space. Once back at the house, Armin led Eren to the lounge to play a few rounds of Mario Kart, talking about anything that they haven’t already – how their favourite classes were going, projects already given to them, afterschool clubs. Eren seemed more than excited about the first few songs for choir, especially since he was told that there would be an audition process for the lead vocal position. When they had grown bored of the game, they both headed off to finish any homework they had left uncompleted.

As soon as he entered his bedroom, he saw his favourite poster upon the wall – the one of The Rogue lounging on a leather sofa, dressed in his usual attire with face paint of the lipless maw, one hand running through his hair, the signature key between his actual lips that were spread in a seductive smirk. The poster was in black and white, the only shines of colour being the gold and green eyes.

Yet again, there was that scream of familiarity. _Wasn’t Eren just in a similar position?_

He shook his head, rolling his eyes at such an obscured thought. Wouldn’t Eren have to have been at that interview if he was The Rogue? His mother had told him that they were together and she wouldn’t lie.

Armin had to admit, however, that there was a similarity between the two.

_Ah, but statistics says that there are four people at any given time within the world who look exactly like you. Maybe they are just part of the statistic._

With a shrug, he went to his desk, booting his laptop to play The Rogue’s first album _The Fall_ while starting to work on the left over advance placement chemistry homework from Friday night.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another new chapter! I hope you all enjoy it and I'll see you all next month for chapter 7.

“Armin, Eren, you two are surprisingly early this morning,” was Mikasa’s way of greeting when she saw them after getting out of the sleek completely black Rolls-Royce.

Come Monday morning, Gisela had been kind enough to offer them a ride to school which allowed the boys to be earlier than they had been the past couple of weeks. The result was being earlier than the girl who was usually the first to arrive from their group.

“Mikasa,” interrupted a somewhat familiar voice. “Father will call you later in the day to organise transport for tonight.”

Turning his head, Eren had to force himself not to react out of shock. Behind the rather large wheel, seated within a black and dark wood detailed interior, was the Captain from _Rose_. He had the same fine style as the day they had met, only he was in a black blazer and grey waistcoat with a crisp white undershirt. His two dogs, equally small and fluffy, were resting on their own seat within the back. Stärke, upon noticing Eren, started to wriggle in his seat while making little yaps. The noise caused Levi to look over at the black dog then to the reason behind the noise – Eren.

Eren lowered his gaze, not wanting to meet the gunmetal grey eyes.

“Who’s your new friend, Mikasa?”

Eren would feel both Armin’s and Mikasa’s curious and confused stares upon him, obviously noticing something strange about his demeanour and the way Levi had addressed the question. His tones made it seem like he already knew the answer, as if asking was just a formality than a genuine question.

“This is Eren. He’s a transfer from Germany living with Armin’s family. Since when did you take an interest in my friends, Levi?”

“I haven’t. Just saw a new face and got curious.” His line of sight shifted as he looked at the clock upon the dash board, followed by a _tch_. “I have to get going. Remember, our father will be calling you.”

With that, he revved the engine, rolled the window up and pulled out of the parking lot.

The trio were silent for a while but not for nearly as long as Eren was hoping. He didn't want to hear their questions - didn't want to tell them he had already met Levi, that he was scared there was a slim chance the radio host could possibly notice him without the makeup and costumes, that if that were to happen he would be outed and have to tell the truth about the real reason he came to live with the Artlet's.

Other students lazily walked by, some giving strange looks while others ignored them in favour of getting to their designated meet up spots.

Finally, Mikasa cleared her throat. Armin seemed happy enough to allow her do all the taking - probably because it was her family.

"Eren," her words were slow, as if afraid to scare him. "Have you met my brother before? It seemed like he knew you."

He shrugged. "I do not recall ever meeting him before, let alone that you had a brother. Maybe he just thinks I could be someone else."

He met her eyes, the same grey as Levi's, to see that she wasn't all that sure whether to believe him. In the end, it was Armin who interrupted them.

"It's a possibility, Mikasa. Not even your brother could get away with never mistaking someone as another person. If we stand out the front for much longer, we'll most likely miss the start of classes, and we're over the other side of the grounds."

They said their goodbyes to one another, though you could tell that she just wanted to say something else, promising to meet up for lunch. Eren thanked Armin for diffusing the situation just before entering their room, feeling his arm tugged back when he took another step forward. Armin looked very serious in that moment; mouth without a hint of a smile, eyes showing concern but Armin was smart, he wouldn't push anything if someone didn't want to talk about it.

"You don't have to thank me, I understand that you didn't want to talk about it. But Eren... even you would have to admit that both of you were acting rather strange this morning. I would hope you think of us as your friends, so I'm willing to wait until you're ready to tell us what exactly happened."

The blonde went inside after that, leaving Eren alone for the moment between the mini speech and the bell ringing.

 

There didn't seem to be anything else interesting the rest of the morning, not counting the message sent from Erwin between classes asking for Eren to call him on their break.

So, when lunch rolled around, he excused himself from the group to wonder off under the cover of some trees. Making sure no one was around, he dialled the number.

_"Hello, you have reached Erwin Smith. How may I help you?"_

_"Erwin, it is Eren. I take it you have something important to tell me."_

He heard a deep chuckle. _"You are correct. I have finally confirmed a few appearances and small shows for the next few weeks, which will be sent to you via email. The first comes up in two weeks, a local morning talk show that has been kind enough to allow you to perform and talk about your album. You'll also receive all the details in regards to outfits and change rooms within the email."_

 _"Thank you."_ The conversation was quiet before a clearing of a throat.

_"I can tell you want to ask me something. Do go ahead."_

_"Should I tell Armin? About me being Rogue."_ Eren's voice turned near whisper soft, eyes scanning the surrounding area just in case someone happened to walk by.

There was a sigh, followed by a silence that meant the older male was gathering his thoughts on the matter.

_"Remember when you debuted? You debated for weeks and weeks about whether or not you should say anything to your friends, ultimately you decided to even when both your father and I argued against it. Do you think you can trust him as much as your trusted Bertold, Reiner or Annie? Do you think he could keep quiet on the matter? You will do as you wish, Eren, because you know to trust your instincts when it comes to people you consider friends."_

Eren blinked a few times, tipping his head back to look at the sky. He had already decided that he trusted Armin, their friendship was easy and comfortable - as if they had always been besides one another since young. A different feelings in comparison to his three closest friends from back home.

_"Thank you, again, Erwin. I'll think for a little longer on the matter."_

_"Before you head off, your mother asked me to mention that she has started the next part. You will want to talk to her about it soon."_

A grin spread across his face, feeling his entire being light up with the news. Amazing!

They both hung up after exchanging goodbyes, Eren skipping towards the table where the group of teenagers sat. Their heads were closer than when he left, grinning in their own happiness, noticing the brunette's return from the phone call. Jean waved a hand to motion Eren closer to them while his other arm was slung over Marco's shoulders. The freckled teen rested his head against his partner's shoulder, eyes closed but still happy.

"Did something happen while I was away?"

"Only Mikasa saying her father allowed for all of us to head over to the Ackerman estate to play some of video games." Connie answered him.

"There'll be more than that, though. Food, soda's, music, a chance to hang around friends," Krista sweetly said. "It's not very often that we get to go over to Mikasa's since Mr Ackerman tends to be working, meaning we'd have to keep our voices down."

"But, dad needs to head into his building for a few hours and said it was fine so long as we stuck to a few simple rules: no under age drinking, nothing illegal, don't annoy the neighbours and make sure everyone leaves before midnight. Want to join us, Eren?"

As if that was really a question! He'd been feeling a bit video game deprives. Wasn't much time while on tour and playing the limited multiplayer games the Arlert's owned could only do so much.

"Count me in."

"Great. We'll meet you out the front of school, then all wait for our pick up."

 

The first thing that went through Eren's head upon seeing the Ackerman estate was _oh wow, this place is huge._  The front lawn was perfectly manicured, not a single blade of grass out of place, with neatly trimmed hedges acting as the fence. A strip of gravel ran down the middle of the area, leading up to a set of four white columns supporting an overhanging. There were two, possibly three, stories to the house.

He followed the others as they walked up to the front, not even stopping as the large double doors swung open to reveal a stylish and pristine clean interior. A man and a woman stood to the sides, each with one hand upon a handle, the other held out as an offering.

"Welcome home, Miss Ackerman. May I take your and your guests belongings?" The woman asked.

"It's alright. We'll be taking them with us into the games room. Will you both be fine with having the rest of the night off?"

Eren wasn't able to hear the reply as Connie pushed him forwards, leading further into the back of the first floor. As their group hurried down, into what Eren could only assume to be the games room, Armin pointed out places that would be useful for the brunette to know - the kitchen, the two bathrooms, doors that let outside if he needed fresh air.

The games room was stunning.

A home theatre screen was built into the left hand wall, a mass of beanbags spread out on the floor in front with four high back chairs lining them. To the right of the theatre setup were four vintage arcade machines - Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, Street Fighter 2 - and a DDR machine in the corner. Closer to where they were standing was a pool table, stools tactfully scattered around for multi-person waiting. Near the pool table was a small bar, stocked with bottles of rather expensive liqueurs, which Eren knew were not to be touched by them - at all. Not that he would want to, he didn't really like the taste of alcohol all that much.

"Make yourself comfortable, guys. Hanneth has offered to make us some food, we'll have to get out own things after that because he'll be heading home. Also, Levi will be home soon."

As she mentioned her brother, Mikasa's grey eyes slid towards him to gauge his reaction. Eren tried his hardest not to avert his eyes to the floor, acting as nonchalant as possible.

Connie and Jean headed straight to the beanbags, dumping their backpacks near the door, already starting up the projector and game consol. While the two of them started a debate on what game they should play, the remaining five of them each grabbed a stool and a spot on the pool table ledge to get started on non-musical related homework. With all five of them working together (and sharing most classes, therefore also sharing classwork) it didn't take them very long before they finished. Krista invited Marco go a game of DDR, which he accepted, while the remaining three headed to join Jean and Connie playing Black Ops 3.

On their second rotation of people (Connie losing, Jean then losing the following round against Armin), the male who greeted them at the door came in with a large tray piled with seriously delicious looking snacks. The man, who Eren could only assume to be the Hanneth Mikasa mentioned, laid them on the bar, explaining what he had prepared: blended strawberries rolled into balls and covered in coconut, apricot muesli slices, baked peaches and ricotta, blueberry and banana yoghurt cake.

Eren was pretty sure everyone in that room was salivating. They all said thank you before digging in, their sounds of appreciation following a moment later. Honestly, the brunette had never had anything that tasted so naturally sweet and so, so good. Eren ended trying to steal a few extra pieces when he was finished his own, successfully taking a slice of the cake from Armin, only to be caught a moment later trying to take a baked peach from Connie.

After they had a good laugh, he then excused himself to get a drink from the kitchen. He tried his hardest to remember which room Armin had pointed to but there were a lot of doors. _Was it the first on the right, or third on the left?_ Soon enough, he had somehow made it back to the front entrance, looking down the way he had come and glaring. How was it so easy to get lost in someone's home?

As he was headed back down to ask someone to lead him in the general direction of the kitchen, he heard the faint sound of a procession of chords being played. The music was hauntingly beautiful, the beginning of a gorgeous melody already telling such a dark story. Without much thought, he followed - as if in a deep trance - the sounds up the closest flight of stairs, down a long hallway, only to stop in front of a dark wooden door left slightly ajar.

Through the crack Eren saw what looked to be... harpsichord? No wonder the song sounded dark. Sitting on a bench, back facing him, was the body producing such sounds - black hair, black blazar, dark pants. Curled on a bed close by were the fluffy black and white dogs he had seen earlier that day. Eren gulped, hoping Starke wouldn't make a noise to interrupt such a piece.

Whom he could only assume to be Levi continued to gracefully move his fingers along the keys, filling the space with an eerie narrative until it suddenly stopped. Without any warning the older male's hand dropped into his lap, an unsatisfied sigh leaving his lips.

"What did you think?" He asked, leaning his head against his shoulder.

With a start, Eren leaped backwards away from the door only to crash against the wall behind him. Through the sliver of open door he could see Levi slowly rise from his spot. His two dogs followed after their owner as he crossed the small space between instrument and door, pushing open the dark wood to see the brunette frozen with body pressed right up against the wall. Levi raised an eyebrow in question, crossing his arms over his chest.

"And what do you think you're doing, brat?"

It took a while before Eren could even begin to respond, mouth constantly open and closing with the same few sentences circling around his mind. _He doesn't know, he wouldn't know, there is no way he could make the connection. He caught me listening to him. What a beautiful song._

"Are you going to say anything or just stare like a fish thrown out of water?"

"What was that?" Levi gave him another questioning look. "The song you were playing. It was... divine. It felt as if I was listening to someone's physical heartbreak, their lament finally given a voice."

The older male seemed to be taken aback, if the shock written on his face was any indication. He recovered quickly, rolling his eyes as he looked back at his dogs then back to Eren.

"What are you doing up here anyway? Shouldn't you be down with my sister and the rest of your friends?"

Eren smiled a bit bashfully, rubbing the side of his neck. "I may have gotten a bit lost. I was trying to find the kitchen when I heard you playing. This place is pretty big."

Without a word, Levi started walking down the hallway - Starke and Hope faithfully following behind him - with only a 'follow me' as an instruction to the brunette. Eren hurried to catch up, standing a little behind the dogs, heading down the stairs, back through the front entrance, back towards the games room. Levi paused in front of the third door on the left, pushing it open and gesturing Eren inside.

"Here it is, Eren. Feel free to take what you need, and try not to hurt my dogs." He gave the command for the canines to wait inside as he closed the door, his footsteps echoing down the rest of the long hallway.

Without his master to keep him in line, Starke started to jump about, trying his hardest to gain the attention of the only human left in the room. Eren chuckled, kneeling down to run his fingers through the fluffy black coat.

 _"Hello again, Starke. I see you've been a bit better behaved than last I saw you."_ Hope lifted her head, giving adorable puppy eyes that he could not refuse, gently scratching between her ears with his free hand. _"And the pretty little lady. Still looking absolutely gorgeous."_

He stayed there for a little while, just petting the two little dogs, missing his own fiercely with each second. Soon, though, he gave one last pat before standing up to grab a glass of water.

A few minutes had already gone by and Levi hadn't re-entered the room. Slowly, testing to see if the raven haired man would walk back in, Eren lifted his hand to the tie holding his hair up in a bun, pulling it out to allow his locks to unravel. As his hair usually did when up for long periods of time, it feel in waves to rest upon his shoulders, picking up a few strands from the ends to inspect.

_Maybe I should do something about it. I have wanted to get a dark to light ombre for a while, having the lighter parts more blonde than brown. That way I can temporarily colour it when I have to perform. I wonder what Erwin would think if I asked him._

"You look nicer with your hair down."

For the second time that hour, Eren jumped backwards - thank his lucky stars he wasn't holding the glass at the time. Just as quickly, he whirled around to face the door as it closed, shutting the rest of the house out to leave just Levi and Eren facing each other.

Slowly, as if savouring the feeling of dread no doubt radiating from the brunette, Levi's lips curled in the most attractive smirk Eren had ever seen.

"I knew you were familiar when I saw you this morning. At first I thought it was just coincidence, but looking at you now I'm pretty sure I'd be correct with my next statement."

His heart sank to his stomach, throat clogging with what felt like bile, visions of tomorrow’s news headlines flashing in his mind as Levi spoke his next sentence - without a rush, like he had all the time in the world.

"Nice to meet you again, Rogue."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for such short chapters recently. I promise that it's leading up to longer ones, especially around chapter 9 or 10.  
> Have fun reading!

All Eren was capable of doing in that moment was stare - mouth open, eyes wide - with shaking hands and a pained chest. He was done for, he knew it. What entertainment presenter wouldn't want to get their hands on the everyday identity of an international rockstar?

But... Eren never confirmed. He hadn't denied either, but that's a technicality.

He allowed himself to laugh, a sound that was just perhaps a bit too forceful and boarding on hysteric, while forcing his hands to stop their shaking so he would be able to put his hair back up. "You really think I would be The Rogue? I admit that the coincidence between my arrival to America and his is suspicious, however I would never be able to pull off the image in which he presents himself. You must be mistaken."

"I'm not." Levi's reply was instantons. "I sat by you for a while at the station, saw you interact with everyone, and watched you as you practiced the song I helped you with. Your eyes sparkled in a similar way they did when you spoke about the song I was playing."

The brunette blinked, tilting his head. His eyes... sparkled? That was a new one.

"And while I have your attention, you were also flat on two different notes within the song."

"Why do you not try to sing in another language with a song you were so very familiar-" Eren cut himself off, seeing the deeper smirk upon the shorter males face. "You did that on purpose."

"Of course I did," he scoffed. "You wouldn't have admitted it on your own accord, right?"

Levi walked forward to curl a hand around Eren's arm, tugging him out the door while the taller male complained, getting a stern 'quiet' when getting to the door for the games room.

"Mikasa. Eren threw up in the kitchen. I've cleaned it, as well as him, up and I'll be taking him to Armin's place before he gets worse."

"Do you want me to tag along, Levi?" Armin asked, scrambling from the beanbags.

"No, it'll be fine. Would you be able to pass me his bag? I'm the only thing holding him up right now."

"Of course." Armin hurried to where Eren had left his bag, passing it into Levi's free hand before worriedly looking at his friend. "You do look a little pale. Go home and rest, okay? Mum, dad and grandfather aren't home right now but the spare key will be in the plant beside the door. I shouldn't be too much later."

Instead of saying anything, not trusting his voice at that moment, Eren tried to put on a smile and nodded his head. He meekly waved a goodbye to everyone before Levi dragged him out, down the long hallway before turning down another corner into a spacious garage. At the moment, only the sleek black car from that morning was parked within, and if the situation wasn't freaking Eren out a little he would have surely been jumping in celebration over the chance of being inside such a beautiful vehicle.

"Keep your feet on the floor and make sure you sit properly. I do not want my car ruined." Levi warned as he unlocked the doors and slid into the driver’s seat.

Heeding the words, Eren carefully took the passenger seat, shutting the door soundly but not roughly, and buckled in. The brunette kept his back straight, knees together and fists resting on his thighs. He looked straight ahead as they back out of the garage, driving into the night. Five minutes into the drive, it didn't seem like either of them were going to speak. Which suited Eren just fine, considering he had no idea what to say to the other. Maybe something along the lines of: 'I will do anything if you could, please, keep this a secret between us' or 'is there a price for your silence?'. He still wasn't all the sure what he would end up saying before leaving the car.

Then, there was the question of what Levi would do with this newly gained information. Of course there were the standard: selling the information to the highest paying tabloid. But there many other things, ranging from tame to boarding unbelievable. He could just out Eren while on air at the station, or make up some incredulous rumour like 'Floridian Radio Presenter’s Illicit Relationship with International Rockstar' and happen to mention aforementioned rockstar's real identity during the interview.

What if he agreed on silence, though? What would his price be? A few hundred thousand dollars a month; connections with producers; having Eren at his beck and call for whatever reason he wishes? There were too many variables of the situation for Eren's mind.

"You are allowed to relax a little, Eren."

Levi's voice made Eren jump a little, turning his head to look at the cool composure of the elder male.

"Do you really think I would be able to with what has just happened?"

Levi sighed. "I suppose not."

They went back to silence for a little while, neither not really knowing what to say. Just as the quiet started to annoy Eren into him saying something, anything; Levi cleared his throat.

"What made you want to become a rockstar, Eren? Why not just have your face plastered over the world, with your own name, instead of a persona?"

Eren chewed his lower lip, looking down at his clasped hands. "I loved the idea of telling a story through music, of being able to express something a world of people could learn to love. At the time, being The Rogue seemed like the best idea since it would allow me to be both the star I wanted to be as well as a teenager." He softly chuckled. "Not to mention, The Rogue's age is unknown. If they knew it was seventeen year old Eren Jäeger, do you really think I would be here right now? Most big rockstar's are not that welcomed in the music industry until their middle twenties."

"And the differences between Eren and The Rogue? I suppose the way you dress for them is just for a disguise."

"Sort of. Both my current dress and The Rogue's are a part of who I am. Before releasing my debut album, I had a wardrobe mixed between the cute pastels and leathers. When it came to picking what The Rogue would look like, it was not a hard decision to give him the leather and 'bad boy' image. Most people assume that is how rockstar's would be anyway."

"Is that how you want to act, though? Are you comfortable with who Eren and who The Rogue are in the public eye?"

Eren let out another chuckle. "You should like a therapist. I am, genuinely, happy. I like how I can be both parts of me, be both Eren and The Rogue, and enjoy all the chances presented to me."

Levi slowed his car to a halt when presented with a red light, turning his head to look at Eren for a brief moment before asking his next question. "Have you ever thought of revealing yourself? Showing the world that Eren is this rockstar people are looking up to?"

Levi turned back around, waiting for the lights to turn to green.

"Maybe once or twice. It would be nice to show people that I made something of myself before many others of my age, to show the industry that you can be young and still be part of the 'rockstar image'. But, then I think about what it would mean to expose myself. My family and closest friends would be bothered by paparazzi, I would not be able to have a private life. I would have to think about who I would be: whether I merge the two parts of me, or carry on being separate."

For a third time that drive, they went back to silence. It felt lighter, somehow, less awkward between them. So, when Levi pulled up in front of the Arlert's, Eren felt a tad more relaxed as he asked Levi what it would take for the older male to not say a word to anyone.

"There isn't anything I wish from you, on a personal level, Eren. However maybe you would like to do me a favour in exchange?"

"A favour?"

"In three months’ time, _Rose_ is hosting this charity event to help raise awareness for people living with a mental illness. We've been trying to get a few big names for a line up, but so far only a small handful have agreed. Would it possible to have The Rogue perform?"

Was that really what Levi wanted him to do in exchange of keeping his secret? How noble.

"I would love to. On one condition."

Levi rose an eyebrow, smirking as he held eye contact. "And I keeping your secret isn't enough?"

"I want you to help me compose new songs for the event. I am not really allowed to say anything officially, but I have been planning on working on a second album already, one to go hand-in-hand with my first one. I thought about asking you after the interview, but listening to you tonight has completely made up my mind."

"If that's the condition, then we have a deal."

Eren felt himself grinning, suggesting that they exchange emails and phone numbers to find a time to meet up. He then got out of the car, waving excitedly as Levi drove away. Once the black car was nowhere in sight, Eren found the spare key in the plant pot beside the door, hurrying inside and up to his bedroom. Already he could feel excitement over what would be happening in the future bubbling.

Quickly, he took out his phone, messaging Erwin that - at the earliest opportunity tomorrow - should give him a call. Once completed with that task, Eren got out his laptop to open to the electronic keyboard application and searched through his bags for his beloved song book. He set everything up on the bed, the touch screen of his laptop resting on a spare hardback book in his lap, song book beside him, a spare pen held between his lips. Without another word, he started to work on one of the many uncompleted songs on the pages.

 

A few hours later, he heard a knock on the bedroom door, followed by Armin's voice asking to come in. The blonde had a worried smile on his face and asked how he was, getting a 'better now that I've had the chance to rest' in return. Eren wrote down another few lines of words in German before Armin asked what he was up to, walking closer to see the set up and tilting his head in curiosity upon spying the set up.

"Just working on a few things for music class." The lie rolled rather easily off his tongue.

He looked up at Armin, and for some unknown reason felt like maybe his friend didn't believe him all that much. Armin didn't say anything to suggest his belief but asked if he could listen in. Seeing no reason to turn down the request, Eren went back to work as Armin took a spot on the edge of the bed, blue eyes carefully watching as the brunette switched between the digital keys and the words.

If Eren felt particularly stuck, he asked Armin who worried that he wouldn't be much of a help considering he had no musical experience. Eren would laugh off the words, saying that sometimes it was great to have other people's opinions instead of just relying on those who knew music rather well.

They carried on like that, laughing and having fun, until Armin's family came back and suggested they head off to bed for an early rise in the morning.

Still, Eren couldn't shake off the feeling that Armin didn't believe him. He was probably just a bit paranoid, though, considering that a few hours earlier someone had discovered his secret.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are two things I am sorry for; the first that this chapter is the shortest to date but I can promise that the following chapter will be much longer. The second that it's two days late! My area had a power outage due to a storm for two days and I wasn't able to post it. I am so sorry. 
> 
> Besides that, I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Upon opening the bedroom door, come Sunday evening, Eren could hear the obnoxious bleeping of the Skype ringtone. Hurrying inside, making sure to shut the door behind him, he answered the call to see the grinning faces of his parents. They exchanged the usual conversational pleasantries of “how are you’s” and “what have you been up to’s”, sharing what has been happening around where they were – such as the little kid idol contest in their home town, or how many pastel type shops Eren had found wondering the area. Eren also found out that his beautiful boy, Corporal, has a little crush on one of the other Danes in the area (a cute blue girl named Adi, that Eren vaguely remembered seeing at the park closest to his family home) though the two families had to try and keep them away from each other since neither dog was spayed/neutered.

Though the overall tone of their conversation so far was rather light, Eren could feel something lurking underneath – especially when his mother would sometimes fidget with her fingers when she wasn't speaking. After about half an hour, Eren voiced his concern over Carla’s behaviour. His parents shared a look before they sighed.

_“Erwin told us that someone had found out. We’re worried, as your parents we always are. Did you tell them?”_

Honestly, Eren was a bit shocked that it had taken until now for them to address the problem. When he first told Erwin over a message (and later a phone call) he had expected his parents to contact him not that long afterwards, however it’s basically been a week since.

 _“No, I didn’t. He happened to find out while I was visiting his place. Mikasa, I've told you about her surely, had invited us over to her place for some games and her brother was home. Her brother is the guy I did the interview with the other week, the Captain from_ Rose _, and he happened to be playing a piece that I heard from their kitchen. Long story short, I let my hair down when he left the room only for him to silently come back. He connected the dots from there.”_

 _“And this favour you’re doing for him?”_ Carla asked, still fidgeting with her fingers. _“Is it so he will keep your secret?”_

He nodded, smiling gently to help calm his parent’s worried expressions.   _“Yes, but it is rather noble. Levi just wants me to perform for a charity event. He’s even agreed to helping me compose a few new songs for the next album.”_

 _“Is he a good composer?”_ Was Grisha’s question, raising an eyebrow.

Like a light, Eren’s eyes lit up. A sparkle that steadily got brighter the more excited he got; a clear sign to his parents that what he was about to say would be full of his musical passion, that every word made him feel something. Grisha sent a smile to his wife as they waited for their son to start his mini-speech.

_“Good? It would be an understatement. Just from that brief moment he played for, I could feel it: a deep sorrow that leaves a chill in your spine, the physical break of your heart, a voice whispering their desperate plea. And the way he played! I could only see from the back but there was grace and beauty, each movement a guiding step in the dance he knew off by heart, a confidence from having spent years in front of the keys. Each note played was shaped, transformed, to please the will of Levi. I could not ask for someone better, for he has such finely honed talent, to work with me.”_

There was more Eren could say but found that he just could not articulate any more, instead all he could focus on was replaying the sound of Levi’s music over in his head – thus missing the looks his parents shared.

(Carla had sent a sly, almost knowing look, to her husband as they leaned their heads closer, whispering conspiratorially. Grisha rolled his eyes and he shook his head, not saying against his wife nor encouraging her words. He found it better to just let her think and say what she pleased when she got something in her head.)

_“It seems like you are quite smitten with his sound, my darling.”_

_“For lack of a better word, I am, mother. I've never heard someone play the way he does, like there’s this… this frantic zeal you have to work towards to even be able to understand what he’s showing you.”_

_“So long as this Levi doesn't blackmail you into doing something you wish not to do.”_

_“I don’t think he’s that kind of person, father.”_

A whine came from his parents end, making all three of them laugh. His father shifted the laptop so Corporal could be seen and see Eren in return. Like every other time, Eren spent way too long talking to his pet who seemed more than happy just to listen – though Eren could tell that his boy was missing all the cuddles he would normally give the Dane. It was fun, just talking to his parents about what was happening, plans they were making, even the funny things that have happened – such as the elderly lady down the road fighting her body-building grandson (again), or the new teenager at the grocer who was flirting with his mother. Silly things, cute things, serious things, there was nothing they didn’t talk about.

When it was starting to get rather late, they were sad to end the call but knew they had to. Just before, however, Carla had something else to say.

_“I finished it.”_

Eren was quiet for a moment, processing those three little words, when a huge grin spread across his face.

 _“The next part? Act Two, Part One?”_ His mother nodded, giggling softly to herself. _“Send it, pretty please, mamma.”_

Both parents outright laughed at his childish term. It wasn't often that the seventeen year old reverted to older terms for his parents – only when he asked for something such as this.

_“Of course, my darling.”_

A second later, the lengthy file was downloading and Eren could barely hold his excitement.

_“Don’t stay up too late reading it, Eren. You still have school.”_

_“I won’t, I promise.”_

Needless to say, Eren broke the promise. He stayed up until two in the morning but was more than happy to dazedly wonder through the hallways and buildings the following day.


	10. Author Note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another apology, please read if you have time, there are a few explanations.

Hello everyone!

 

A couple of things to mention in this, but the first is an apology. That 'little later than usual' update I had promised? Well, it's been nearly three months now with nothing and for that I cannot say sorry enough. I have not only let myself down but you guys as well. There are reasons as to why (which I will explain) but I could not start this without saying sorry, sorry, sorry!

With that done, it's time for me to explain.

In the last note I wrote, I mentioned dealing with some personal issues as well as trying to figure out where my life will continue. I was debating between finding work or going back into education (certification) while feeling the pressure of my everyday life pulling me down. Honestly, I was not in a good place a few months ago but I tried to pull through it for a few days a month to get some serious writing done for you guys. I have barely been able to do any since my last update (I posted two little shorts a few weeks ago but they were more for a joke between a friend and myself, and where less of a planned writing and more of a spontaneous thing) but not for bad reasons!

It seems my life has turned around a little. A few weeks after having posted the last note I was offered a chance to work in an industry in which I enjoyed but never thought was an option for myself, with additional education for certification. This is where I have been the past two months, stuck between working five days a week and studying the other two, but I can't complain for I love it.  Because of this, I have had barely any time to open up my documents for Headliners to continue writing anything of value (I have tried, but nothing seems to stick) and it doesn't look like I will have much, if any, time to continue writing the next chapter in the coming six months. 

So, nothing bad has happened! 

With that, thank you all for having read so far and that you may continue to enjoy when I am able to start writing again - because I want to finish this. 

I am always up for a question or a talk, so if you feel the need to you can message me through the comments or on my [tumblr](http://kawaiwrites.tumblr.com/) and never feel shy to! (I love talking to people!)

Thank you all!


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